title: Visfatin may be a novel marker for identifying stages of essential hypertension in advanced age patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Visfatin is a peptide that is secreted from visceral fat. It has been reported to be associated with inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. However, little is known about its function in hypertension. Therefore the aim of the present study was to evaluate visfatin levels in patients with hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied forty-six newly diagnosed hypertensive patients and 30 healthy participants. In accordance with blood pressure levels reported in the JNC 7 guidelines, hypertensive patients were divided into 2 groups: stage 1 and stage 2. The control group was divided into 2 groups: normal and prehypertensive. Blood pressure (BP) measurements were obtained from each patient. Serum lipid profile, glucose and visfatin levels were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), BMI, waist circumference were significantly higher in the patient group than those in control subjects (p<0.05). The mean visfatin level was significantly higher in hypertensive patients. In the prehypertensive group, the serum visfatin levels were also significantly higher than in participants with normal blood pressure (p:0.043). There was a significantly positive correlation with visfatin and systolic BP, diastolic BP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We consider that visfatin may be a marker which may be used to illustrate damage even in prehypertensive stage caused by isolated essential HT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Turkey.
authors.forename: Fahri
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gunes
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Akbal
authors.forename: Evrim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cakir
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Akyurek
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altunbas
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozbek
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood*; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000097:blood*; D058246:Prehypertension / Q000097:blood; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D001786:Blood Glucose; D016207:Cytokines; D008055:Lipids; D054409:Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase; C085455:nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, human