Skinfold Thickness as a Predictor of Arterial Stiffness: Obesity and Fatness Linked to Higher Stiffness Measurements in Hypertensive Patients

Author： Selcuk Ali Bulucu Fatih Kalafat Firdevs Cakar Mustafa Demirbas Seref Karaman Murat Ay Seyid Ahmet Saglam Kenan Balta Sevket Demirkol Sait Arslan Erol

Publisher： Informa Healthcare

ISSN： 1064-1963

Source： Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, Vol.35, Iss.6, 2013-10, pp. : 459-464

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

Hypertensive patients have strong evidence of endothelial dysfunction. Some novel endothelial dysfunction parameters such as pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index (AIx), and central aortic pressure (CAP) have been investigated as predictive markers of atherosclerosis. It is well known that obesity has relationships with endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. We aimed to investigate relationships between anthropometric measurements and arterial stiffness parameters in essentially hypertensive patients. The study population included 100 patients (56 females, 44 males) newly or formerly diagnosed as essentially hypertensive in an outpatient clinic. Arterial stiffness measurements, including PWV, AIx, CAP, and body mass index (BMI); waist circumference, hip circumference; waist/hip ratio; and triceps, biceps, subscapular, and suprailiac skinfold thicknesses were also applied to all the study patients. Then, the relationships between BMI, anthropometric measurements, and arterial stiffness parameters were investigated. The mean systolic arterial blood pressure of the study population was 135.85 ± 15.27 mm Hg and the mean diastolic arterial blood pressure of the study population was 84.17 ± 9.58 mm Hg. The parameters such as PWV, AIx, and CAP measured for arterial stiffness had correlations between BMI and different anthropometric measurements. The statistically significant correlations were present between PWV and triceps skinfold thickness (TST) (r = 0.377, P < .001) and it was also seen when regression analysis was performed (PWV = 6.41 + [0.072 × TST]; R² = 0.142, F[1–98] = 16.23, P < .001). Triceps skinfold thickness among these correlations may be used to estimate the carotid–femoral PWV, which is an indicator of subclinical organ damage due to hypertension.