Association between anthropometric and ultrasound measurements of fatness with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring in obese women.
OBJECTIVE
An association between body fat distribution indices and the amount of visceral adipose tissue (AT) with blood pressure (BP) has been documented. However, most studies used casual morning BP values as the dependent variable. The aim of our study was to identify which of the obesity indices (the body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), sagittal diameter or visceral (AT) measured by ultrasonography (US)) better correlated with BP determined by 24 h ambulatory monitoring.


METHODS
Retrospective study on obese women, outpatients at the Obesity Clinic, Internal Medicine Institute, Chieti University, Italy.


METHODS
In fifty-one obese outpatient women, BP was determined with a single morning measurement (casual BP) and with 24 h ambulatory monitoring (ABPM). The obesity parameters were the BMI, WHR, sagittal diameter and the amount of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat determined by US.


RESULTS
Except for the BMI, all obesity indices as WHR, sagittal diameter and visceral AT measured by US were strongly correlated with both casual and 24 h ambulatory BP values. When such parameters were evaluated in a multivariate analysis, only the WHR remained significantly related to 24 h ABPM parameters and not to casual values.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that a simple measure of fat distribution as the WHR could represent a good predictor of hypertension in obesity, providing that BP is measured in a more reproducible manner, such as by 24 h ambulatory BP monitoring.
Institute of Internal Medicine, University of Chieti, Italy.
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MT
Guagnano
E
E
Ballone
D
D
Merlitti
R
R
Murri
V
V
Pace-Palitti
R
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Pilotti
S
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Sensi
D000005:Abdomen; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000328:Adult; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio