Evaluation of cardiac autonomic function in overweight males: A cross-sectional study

Background and Aim: Cardiovascular autonomic function tests (CAFTs) are non-invasive tests that can assess both sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic functions. Autonomic dysfunction may be considered as a risk factor for obesity and vice versa. For measurement of obesity, body mass index (BMI) is a simple, valid and inexpensive method. Hence, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of obesity based on BMI criteria on autonomic nervous system based on CAFT in young adult males. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 43 young adult males in the age group of 18–25 years with an age-matched control (n = 43) group. After initial screening, anthropometric measurements were recorded. CAFTs were performed and recorded by the Cardiac Autonomic Neuropathy Analysis System (CANWin). Unpaired t- test was done to compare the parameters of study and control groups in Microsoft Excel® 2010. Results: Parasympathetic test parameters of study and control groups when expressed in mean ± standard deviation were not found statistically significant (P > 0.05). The fall in systolic blood pressure (BP) in orthostatic test of study group (12.19 ± 4.8 mmHg) was significantly (P = 0.0001) higher than that of control group (7.33 ± 5.16 mmHg). Increase in diastolic BP in isometric handgrip exercise test of study group (11.84 ± 5.39 mmHg) was significantly less (P = 0.004) than that of control group (16.39 ± 8.71 mmHg). Conclusion: Overweight young males have altered sympathetic activity but parasympathetic activity did not show any significant difference when compared to normal weight males