Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2020; 115(5): 896-904

Microvascular Reactivity in Hypertensive Patients with High Body Adiposity

Jenifer d'El-Rei, Michelle Rabello Cunha, Samanta de Souza Mattos, Bianca Cristina Marques, Viviane Prangiel de Menezes, Ana Rosa Cunha, Érica Monteiro França, Wille Oigman, Mario Fritsch Neves

DOI: 10.36660/abc.20190364

This Original Article is referred by the Short Editorial "Do Microvascular Reactivity Studies Contribute to Clinical Practice?".

Abstract

Background:

Several anthropometric indexes have been proposed to determine the association between overweight and cardiovascular risk factors.

Objective:

To evaluate the relationship between body adiposity and microvascular reactivity in hypertensive patients under antihypertensive therapy.

Methods:

Treated hypertensive patients aged 40 to 70 were submitted to evaluation of anthropometric indexes: conicity (CI), body adiposity (BAI), visceral adiposity (VAI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Participants were divided by the terciles of fat percentage (%F) obtained by bioelectrical impedance. The patients underwent microvascular reactivity test (Laser Speckle Contrast Image) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurement. The p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

The variation of the area under the curve (AUC) of the skin perfusion was lower in the upper tercile (97±57% vs. 67±36%; p=0.027). %F showed significant correlation with WHtR (r=0.77; p<0.001), VAI (r=0.41; p=0.018), CI (r=0.60; p<0.001), BAI (r=0.65; p<0.001) in men and only with WHtR (r=0.55; p<0.001) and BAI (r=0.60; p<0.001) in women. In linear regression, AUC was independently associated with %F (β=−3.15; p=0.04) in women and with blood glucose (β=−1.15; p=0.02) in men. There was no difference in PWV measurements.

Conclusion:

Anthropometric indices were more associated with %F in men. Higher body adiposity was associated with lower microvascular reactivity, which was more evident in women. There was no difference in arterial stiffness, which may have been influenced by antihypertensive treatment.