Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the point prevalence of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and its relationship with respiratory disturbances in obese patients living at moderate altitude.
SUBJECTS: A total of 57 obese patients comprised the final sample and consisted of 34 women and 23 men, with a mean age of 42.7±12.1 ys and a mean body mass index (BMI) 47.1±10.6 kg/m2 (range from 30.1 to 76.1). The mean living altitude was 2248.7 m, range 2100–2400 m above sea level.
MEASUREMENTS: Doppler echocardiography, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gas analysis, and polysomnography were performed.
RESULTS: Data showed that 96.5% of the studied sample had daytime PH defined as calculated systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PSAP) >30 mmHg (mean PSAP=50, s.d.=13 mmHg). The severity of diurnal PH was found to be related to the presence of alveolar hypoventilation and BMI. The main risk factor for severity of diurnal PH was hypoventilation with a significant odds ratio (OR) 7.96, 95% CI 1.35–46.84, BMI was (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.02–1.25) and apnea/hypopnea index was not a predictor of pulmonary hypertension severity (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97–1.02).
CONCLUSION: We concluded that prevalence of diurnal PH is high in obese patients living at moderate altitude, and that hypoventilation is the main risk factor associated with the severity of pulmonary hypertension.
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Acknowledgements
This investigation received support from National Autonomous University of México DGAPA-IN207397, IN209500, and NIH AG-10643. We thank to Rogelio Perez-Padilla, MD for his critical review on the manuscript.
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Valencia-Flores, M., Rebollar, V., Santiago, V. et al. Prevalence of pulmonary hypertension and its association with respiratory disturbances in obese patients living at moderately high altitude. Int J Obes 28, 1174–1180 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802726
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802726
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