Associations among obesity, blood pressure, and left ventricular mass.
OBJECTIVE
To measure resting and ambulatory systemic blood pressure (BP) and left ventricular mass (LVM) in prepubertal obese and lean children and to determine their relationships.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study including 44 obese and 22 lean prepubertal children (mean age 8.8 +/- 1.5 years). We measured casual and 24-hour ambulatory BP, LVM and LVM index (LVMI) by echocardiography, and whole body lean tissue and fat mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.


RESULTS
Mean 24-hour systolic BP (124.8 +/- 14.2 vs 105.5 +/- 8.8 mm Hg), diastolic BP (72.8 +/- 7.3 vs 62.7 +/- 3.8 mm Hg), and LVMI (36.1 +/- 5.8 vs 30.9 +/- 5.7, g x m(-2.7)) were significantly higher in obese than in lean subjects. Systolic ambulatory hypertension was present in 47.6% of obese children, and casual BP was normal in 55% of those cases. Body fatness, lean tissue mass, and 24-hour BP correlated positively with LVMI. When adjusted for body fatness, LVMI was only associated with 24-hour systolic BP (adjusted R(2) = 15.9%; P = .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Ambulatory systemic hypertension and increased LVM are found in obese children. Left ventricular mass is partially determined by systemic BP. We conclude that prevention and treatment of childhood obesity should be initiated as early as possible to prevent the premature development of hypertension and end-stage organ damage.
Maggio
Albane B R
AB
Pediatric Cardiology Unit, Department of Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland.
Aggoun
Yacine
Y
Marchand
Laetitia M
LM
Martin
Xavier E
XE
Herrmann
François
F
Beghetti
Maurice
M
Farpour-Lambert
Nathalie J
NJ
D000273:Adipose Tissue; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis