TITLE:
The influence of obesity duration on left ventricular mass, volume and function: A pilot study
AUTHORS:
Juan Ybarra, June H. Romeo, Sandra Férnandez, Joan Sanchez-Hernandez
KEYWORDS:
Duration of Obesity; Echocardiography; Co-Morbidities
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.4 No.12A,
December
31,
2012
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Despite the bulk of evidence between obesity and
cardiovascular complications, the effect of the duration of obesity (DOO) on
cardiac function has so far received limited attention. The aim of the study
is to study the relationship between a new, American Heart Association
(AHA) and World Health Organization (WHO)-adapted formula for reporting DOO
with echocardiographic findings and comorbidities in a large cohort of
individuals whose BMI ranged from normal (·m﹣2) to morbid
obesity (>40 Kg·m﹣2) and had been obese for varying lengths of
time. Methods:
198 (M60/F138) asymptomatic patients were recruited. Patients were classified
according to their reported DOO. The normal weight group (N = 92 (40/F52) was formed by
those patients who did not recall maintaining a BMI > 30 Kg·m﹣2 from age 18 while those recalling maintenance of a BMI > 30 Kg·m﹣2 since age 18 and thereafter formed the obese group (N = 106 (M20/F86)). A detailed
clinical, echo-cardiographic and analytical study was performed. Results: DOO in our series disclosed a significant correlation with left ventricular architecture and hemodynamics,
left ventricular mass, cardiac output as well as the prevalence of diabetes
mellitus, hypertension and insulin resistance. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that almost 54% of the interventricular septum
thickness’s variance can be independently predicted by a model including DOO,
gender, hypertension and logtransformed HOMA. Conclusions: Our formula for estimating the duration of obesity provides
a simple, user-friendly tool whose utilization in bariatric preoperative
assessments and in advanced nursing practice deserves prospective studies.