Association of Carotid Atherosclerosis and Arterial Stiffness with Obesity

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Few studies related to carotid intima media thickness and arterial pulse wave velocity in obese people were reported in Korea. We evaluated carotid intima media thickness (IMT) and arterial pulse wave velocity (PWV) according to existence of obesity. METHODS: From January 2009 to March 2010 at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital, we enrolled 118 healthy adults (male 67, female 51) without past history of hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, heart disease and renal failure. We devided the population into two groups according to body mass index (BMI, kg/m2); non-obese (n=68, 18.5 to 25 kg/m2) group, obese (n=50, > or =25 kg/m2) group. We measured carotid IMT and PWV of aorta as well as arteries of upper and lower extremities. RESULTS: Carotid IMT showed statistically significant increase in obese group (0.54+/-0.11 mm vs. 0.58+/-0.10 mm; P=0.041). IMT is independently and significantly related to age and systolic blood pressure. There is no statistical difference of the PWVs of aorta, upper extremity and lower extremity in obese group compared with non-obese group. BMI showed significant correlations with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and IMT. CONCLUSION: Carotid IMT that was mainly determined by age and systolic blood pressure significantly increased in obese group compared to non-obese group, while neither aortic PWV nor arterial PWVs of upper and lower extremities showed significant difference between the two groups.