The effect of hypertension and obesity on left ventricular geometry and cardiac functions in children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
Obesity and hypertension are associated with structural and functional cardiac change in children and adults. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of hypertension and obesity on left ventricular geometric patterns and cardiac functions assessed by conventional and Doppler echocardiography.


METHODS
Four hundred and thirty obese children, aged 6-17 years and 150 age and sex-matched healthy controls, were included in the study. Left ventricular geometry was classified as concentric hypertrophy, eccentric hypertrophy, concentric remodeling and normal geometry.


RESULTS
Concentric hypertrophy group had the worst subclinical systolic and diastolic cardiac functions among all left ventricular geometric patterns. BMI and total adipose tissue mass are the predictors of abnormal ventricular geometry. Apart from the increase in carotid intima-media and epicardial adipose tissue thicknesses in different left ventricular geometry patterns, they are not predictable for abnormal geometry.


CONCLUSIONS
The variety of alterations in cardiac function and morphology that has been observed in obese adults, appears to start earlier in life. Obesity and hypertension were clearly associated with the left ventricular geometry. Also, subclinical systolic and load-depended diastolic dysfunctions can be detected in obese hypertensive children with concentric hypertrophy.
aDepartment of Pediatric Cardiology, Malatya State Hospital, Malatya bDepartment of Pediatric Cardiology, Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram School of Medicine Hospital cDepartment of Pediatric Endocrinology, Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram School of Medicine Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
Hayrullah
H
Alp
Sevim
S
Karaarslan
Beray S
BS
Eklioğlu
Mehmet E
ME
Atabek
Tamer
T
Baysal
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000473:pathology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results