Relation between body mass index and endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in healthy postmenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether endothelium-dependent vasodilatation is related to anthropometric parameters in 105 healthy postmenopausal women 47-68 years of age.


METHODS
Flow-dependent, endothelium-dependent vasodilatation was considered as the maximal dilatation following deflation of a cuff placed on the forearm and inflated to supra-systolic blood pressure values for 4 min. Endothelium-independent vasodilatation was considered as the maximal dilatation induced by sublingual nitroglycerine (400 microg).


RESULTS
Among parameters such as height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist, hip, waist/hip ratio, lipids, glucose or insulin, only BMI, an indirect index of adiposity, was independently and directly related to baseline brachial artery diameter (b = 0.042, r = 0.269, p = 0.0055) and flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation either expressed as net (b = 0.034, r = 0.315, p = 0.001) or percentage (b = 0.376, r = 0.202, p = 0.039) change. Stratification for BMI categories showed that women with BMI < 22 kg/m(2) had an endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, significantly lower than that of women with BMI >or= 30 kg/m(2) (0.711 +/- 0.076 mm vs. 1.107 +/- 0.141 mm; p = 0.0114). BMI was not related to endothelium-independent vasodilatation.


CONCLUSIONS
Present results show that, in healthy postmenopausal women, endothelium-dependent vasodilatation is related to BMI, arteries of slender women dilating less than those of their heavier counterparts. A low BMI does not appear to be beneficial for artery vasodilatation in healthy postmenopausal women.
Cagnacci
A
A
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics, Gynecology Unit, Policlinico of Modena, Modena, Italy.
Cannoletta
M
M
Arangino
S
S
Generali
M
M
Ferrari
S
S
Volpe
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D005996:Nitroglycerin / Q000494:pharmacology; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000502:physiology*; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D005996:Nitroglycerin