Endocrine Abstracts

The aim of this study was to compare metabolic profile in hypertensive obese and lean subjects. The study population consisted of 76 patients. We measured fasting glucose and insulin levels, triglycerides, total, LDL and HDL cholesterol. We also estimated the BMI, WHR, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). We used WHO criteria for abdominal obesity (WHR>0.90 men, >0.85 women), and WHO criteria for diagnosing the metabolic syndrome (triglyceride>1.7 mmol/l, HDL<1.0 mmol/l). According to BMI (normal weight if BMI<25 kg/m², obesity if BMI>30 kg/m²) the population was divided into two groups: A-hypertensive obese (47 subjects, 16 males, 31 females, age 38.74±8.75, BMI 43.45±8.88 kg/m², SBP 161.49±16.42 mmHg, DBP 104.89±9.70 mmHg); B-hypertensive lean (29 subjects, 12 males, 17 females, age 40.18±6.32, BMI 24.02±2.20 kg/m²; SBP 169.48±20.15 mmHg, DBP 102.76±12.14 mmHg) (mean±S.D.). Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) was used to estimate insulin sensitivity. Statistics analysis was performed by Student-T and correlation test. There was no significant difference between two groups in age, sex, SBP, DBP and duration of hypertension. In both groups abdominal type obesity was presented (A-100%men, 83.9%women; B-64.6%men, 64.7%women). There was no significant difference between two groups in HOMA-IR (4.56±1.86 vs 3.08±1.96; P>0.05) and in lipid profile. Both groups showed increased triglycerides and reduced HDL cholesterol. In group A, we found significant correlation between SBP, DBP and HOMA-IR (P<0.01), between triglycerides and HOMA-IR (P<0.05), and inverse correlation between SBP and HDL (P=0.0013).

Although obese hypertensive individuals were more resistant to insulin than lean hypertensive individuals, there was no significant difference in insulin sensitivity between these two groups.