Overweight and early heart remodelling in women with arterial hypertension

Abstract

Aim. To compare left ventricular (LV) remodelling and LV myocardial mass indices (MMI) in overweight and nonoverweight women with arterial hypertension (AH). Material and methods. The study included 89 women (mean age 48,3±8,7 years) with AH, but no regular antihypertensive treatment at the study enrolment. By the levels of body mass index (BMI), all women were divided into two groups: 47 women with BMI 18-25 kg/m2 (Group I) and 42 women with BMI 26-29 kg/m2 (Group II). All participants underwent two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (EchoCG), with the calculation of LVMM, LVMMI adjusted to body surface area (BSA) or height to the power of 2,7, and remodeling indices. Results. Overweight, even without obesity, was linked to a statistically significant increase of LV wall thickness, LVMM and height-adjusted LVMMI (р=0,002), while BSA-adjusted LVMMI demonstrated only a tendency towards increase (р=0,06). The latter finding demonstrates that the traditional, BSA-adjusted LVMMI could result in under-diagnostics of LV hypertrophy (LVH) among overweight patients. Conclusion. To diagnose LVH early in overweight patients, LVMMI should be adjusted to height to the power of 2,7.

Keywords

• left ventricular hypertrophy
• overweight
• left ventricular myocardial mass index
• heart remodelling