The relative contribution of body fat and fat pattern to blood pressure level.

Abstract

SUMMARY Although the association between body weight and blood pressure is irrefutable, body fat mass and blood pressure level may not necessarily be directly related. To clarify the relative contribution of fat mass to blood pressure level, we analyzed data on 399 adults consecutively entering a weight control program. Although most subjects were notably overweight (mean ideal body weight 177%), the population represented a wide spectrum of body weights and blood pressure levels. Study parameters included body fat mass (by total body water, 40 K, and Steinkamp formula), lean body mass, body build (chest to height ratio), fat cell number and size from bilateral buttock biopsy specimens, upper fat pattern by arm to thigh circumference ratio, and central fat pattern by subscapular to triceps skinfold ratio. Our results concurred with previously noted correlations between obesity and blood pressure (as mean arterial pressure): weight (r = 0.44), percentage of body fat (r = 0.19), and absolute fat mass (r = 0.38; all p < 0.01); however, lean body mass, age, and body build correlated highly with both fat mass and mean arterial pressure, thereby confounding this relationship. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate the relative contribution of fat mass to mean arterial pressure in the presence of these and other potentially confounding variables. Lean body mass, age, body build, and an upper body fat pattern were found to contribute significantly to the variation in mean arterial pressure (p < 0.01). In their presence, percentage of body fat, absolute fat mass, central fat pattern, fat cell characteristics, and age of onset of obesity did not significantly improve the predictability of mean arterial pressure. Thus, blood pressure level may be related to the aforementioned correlates of obesity and to body fat pattern rather than to fat mass per se. (Hypertension 7: 578-585, 1985) KEY WORDS • obesity, blood pressure • lean body mass • fat pattern • body build fat cell number and size • weight • hypertension C ONSIDERABLE epidemiological and clinical evidence exists to support an association between obesity and hypertension. The increased prevalence of obesity among hypertensive subjects' and hypertension among the obese 2 is well documented. In addition, prospective trials

Plasma insulin, plasminogen activator inhibitor, and ankle-brachial systolic blood pressure ratio in overweight hypertensive subjects

“…21 A weaker correlation has been observed between brachial systolic blood pressure and the fat distribution in obese and non-obese subjects. 7,21,31,32 In the present study, we found that the degree of abdominal fat deposition was strongly associated with the decrease in ABI ratio. The validity of this relationship was based on two important findings: (i) the ABI ratio was no significantly correlated with body weight or body mass index, and (ii) the observed correlation did not result from a significant correlation between the WHR and brachial systolic blood pressure but rather from a negative correlation between the WHR and ankle systolic blood pressure.…”

Is There Any Difference in Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors and Prevalence of Fatty Liver in Subjects with Normal Body Mass Index Having Different Physiques?

“…It has been reported that lean body of coronary heart disease ris k factors in subjects with high k factor levels and the morbidity and low waist/ hip ratios (mean ± mass contributes significantly to mean arterial blood pressure, but not to central fat pattern (Weinsier et al 1985). It has also been reported that no significant difference was found between HDL-cholesterol levels in abdominal obese patients and the other type of obese patients (Fujioka et al 1987).…”

Carotid artery atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed female cynomolgus monkeys. Effects of oral contraceptive treatment, social factors, and regional adiposity.

“…15161836 Only recently have subcategories of obesity, based on the anatomic location of fat deposition, been investigated as stroke risk factors. Body fat deposited on the trunk (central fat deposition), versus the periphery, has been found to be associated with stroke, as well as myocardial infarction, 12 hypertension, 37 and plasma lipid concentrations, 38 in women. Central fat deposition has also been found to be associated with exacerbated coronary artery atherosclerosis, as well as cardiovascular risk factors, in female cynomolgus monkeys.…”