Central obesity raises risk of arterial stiffness even in people with normal weight

Central obesity in people with normal weight appears to contribute to a heightened risk of arterial stiffness in the presence of hypertension, according to a study from China.

Researchers conducted a substudy of the China H-type Hypertension Registry Study and looked at Chinese hypertensive patients with normal weight (defined as a body mass index of not lower than 18.5 kg/m² and not higher than 24 kg/m²). Participants with a waist-height ratio of ≥0.5 were deemed to have central obesity. Arterial stiffness was assessed using the brachial-ankle pulse wave conduction velocity (baPWV).

For the analyses, the participants were grouped into two as follows: normal weight with central obesity (NWCO) and normal weight with no central obesity (NWNO). Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between NWCO and baPWV and arterial stiffness.

Half of the population had NWCO (50.4 percent). Compared with the NWNO group, the NWCO group had higher baPWV value (total population: β, 38.33, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 22.82–53.84). This held true for both men (β, 39.87, 95 percent CI 18.43–61.32) and women (β, 29.65, 95 percent CI, 7.20–52.09).

NWCO was associated with an increased risk of arterial stiffness (baPWV ≥1,800 cm/s) in the total population (odds ratio [OR], 1.25, 95 percent CI, 1.12–1.39), as well as in men (OR, 1.29, 95 percent CI, 1.11–1.50) and women (OR, 1.18, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.38).