title: Plasma adiponectin: a contributing factor for cardiac changes in visceral obesity-associated hypertension.
abstract: This study has been designed to evaluate the impact of adiponectin levels on left ventricular geometry and function in visceral obesity-associated hypertension. 94 consecutive subjects, 53 of them were hypertensives and 41 normotensives with age ≤ 65 years, subgrouped according to the presence or absence of visceral obesity, were studied. Total adiponectin levels were measured by a validated competitive radioimmunoassay. Left ventricular telediastolic internal diameter, interventricular septum, posterior wall thickness, total left ventricular mass (LVM) and normalized for height to the 2.7 power (LVM/h(2.7)), relative wall thickness, left ventricular ejection fraction by echocardiography and isovolumic relaxation time, E/A ratio and deceleration time of E velocity, by pulsed-wave Doppler, were calculated. Plasma adiponectin levels were significantly lower in visceral obesity-associated hypertensives than lean hypertensives (p < 0.001) and in lean normotensives (p < 0.001). LVM and LVM/h(2.7) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in both hypertensive groups, and in visceral obesity-associated normotensives in comparison with lean normotensives. Adiponectin levels correlated inversely with LVM/h(2.7) but only in normotensives (adjusted R squared 0.77, p < 0.0001) and hypertensives (0.67, p < 0.0001) subjects with visceral obesity. Multiple regression analysis indicated that adiponectin levels remain significantly associated (p < 0.001) to LVM/h(2.7) also when adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, waist to hip ratio and mean blood pressure. Our data suggest an important role of adiponectin in increased LVM/h(2.7) in visceral obesity-associated normotensive and hypertensive subjects. In this last group, adiponectin, more than blood pressure, may be able to explain the development of cardiac damage.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Biomedico di Medicina Interna e Specialistica, University of Palermo , Palermo , Italy.
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Di Chiara
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Licata
authors.forename: Christiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Argano
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Duro
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Corrao
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scaglione
mesh_terms: D052242:Adiponectin / Q000097:blood*; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin
keywords: Adiponectin; left ventricular mass; obesity-associated hypertension