¹Institute of Internal Medicine, University of Chieti, Italy

²Institute of Medical Statistics, University of Chieti, Italy

Correspondence: Prof S Sensi, Clinica Medica, Policlinico Colle dell'Ara, Via dei Vestini, 66100 Chieti, Italy

OBJECTIVE: An association between body fat distribution indices and the amount of visceral adipose tissue (AT) with blood pressure (BP) has been documented. However, most studies used casual morning BP values as the dependent variable. The aim of our study was to identify which of the obesity indices (the body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), sagittal diameter or visceral (AT) measured by ultrasonography (US)) better correlated with BP determined by 24 h ambulatory monitoring. DESIGN: Retrospective study on obese women, outpatients at the Obesity Clinic, Internal Medicine Institute, Chieti University, Italy. SUBJECTS AND MEASUREMENTS: In fifty-one obese outpatient women, BP was determined with a single morning measurement (casual BP) and with 24 h ambulatory monitoring (ABPM). The obesity parameters were the BMI, WHR, sagittal diameter and the amount of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat determined by US. RESULTS: Except for the BMI, all obesity indices as WHR, sagittal diameter and visceral AT measured by US were strongly correlated with both casual and 24 h ambulatory BP values. When such parameters were evaluated in a multivariate analysis, only the WHR remained significantly related to 24 h ABPM parameters and not to casual values. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a simple measure of fat distribution as the WHR could represent a good predictor of hypertension in obesity, providing that BP is measured in a more reproducible manner, such as by 24 h ambulatory BP monitoring.

fat distribution; ultrasonography; ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; obesity