Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: Obesity is a serious health problem that has reached very high proportions in our country; prevalence of obesity and overweight together is 56%. Obesity is strongly associated with risk factors for cardio and cerebrovascular disease, AH, type 2 diabetes and cognitive disorders. The aim of our study was to analyze the impact of AH and weight change on carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and cognitive function in Georgian nondiabetic obese and overweight hypertensive individuals.

Materials and methods: We studied 131 patients with mild to moderate AH (89 males/42 females, mean age 53.4±3,1 years, BMI 29.8±3.4 kg/m², duration of AH 5.5±2.3 years). Examination included: color triplex carotid artery scanning; 24-h BP monitoring, mini-mental state examination test. 60 overweight patients (25<BMI< 29.9 kg/m²) were assigned to group 1 and 71 obese patients (BMI>30 kg/m²) to group 2.

Results: The groups were comparable by the age, duration of AH, daily mean BP values. Mean values of IMT (gr1:1,04±0.04 mm;gr2: 1.09±0.05 mm) were certainly increased in obese patients compared with overweight ones (P<0.001). Prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis was higher in gr2 (78% vs 65%). Occurrence of cognitive disorders was significantly higher in gr 2 (38vs26%)(P<0,05). BMI positively correlated with IMT (r=0.25, P<0.02).

Conclusion: Thus, in Georgian obese nondiabetic hypertensive subjects we detected more pronounced and frequent carotid artery affection and cognitive dysfunction comparing with overweight ones. Data of our study demonstrate importance of more profound examination of cardiovascular system and neurological status in obese hypertensive patients to ensure further more aggressive blood pressure and weight reduction.