Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Mar 2023)
Association Between Visceral Fat, Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Patients with HFpEF: A Mediation Analysis
Abstract
Min Sun,1,2 Lei Gao,1 Hongmei Bai,1 Weiwei Hu,1 Xiaofang Zhang,1 Jin Xiao,1 Xiangliang Deng,1 Hongmei Tao,1 Ping Ge,2 Yuhong Qin,1,* Dongying Zhang1,* 1Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Health Management Center, The First Branch of the Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Dongying Zhang; Yuhong Qin, Tel +86-23-13608398395 ; +86-23-13068357151, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: To investigate the association of visceral fat with arterial stiffness of heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and to evaluate the extent to which this association is mediated by blood pressure (BP).Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04535726) recruited 94 patients with HFpEF totally from October to December 2020. The obesity-related measurements included visceral fat area (VFA), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist–hip ratio (WC/HC), abdominal circumference (AC), body fat mass and fat percentage. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) was used to estimate the degree of arterial stiffness. Mediation analysis was performed to reveal whether the effect of visceral fat area on arterial stiffness can be mediated by BP in patients with HFpEF and the extent to which this association was mediated by BP.Results: About 93.6% of HFpEF patients were accompanied with abdominal obesity. Patients in baPWV ≥ 1800cm/s group were older, with a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension and abdominal obesity. VFA, systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP) and pulse pressure (PP) were correlated with baPWV in total group. Adjusted for age ≥ 75 years old, gender, smoking, T2DM, calcium channel blocker and statins, the mediation effect of systolic SBP and PP on the VFA-baPWV association were 53.3% (indirect effect was 2.28, 95% CI 0.62– 4.73) and 48.4% (indirect effect was 2.07, 95% CI 0.51– 4.38), respectively. DBP failed to mediate the association between VFA and baPWV (indirect effect was 0.50, 95% CI − 0.41– 2.14).Conclusion: The association of visceral fat with baPWV in HFpEF patients may be partly accounted for SBP or PP. Elevated SBP and PP might be important potential targets for preventing arterial stiffness in HFpEF patients.Keywords: mediation analysis, blood pressure, visceral fat area, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, HFpEF
