Left and right ventricular structural changes in obese hypertensives

Aim. Obesity is known to be independently related to left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH); however, in human hypertension the association of obesity with right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) is still unsettled. We investigated the relationship of obesity with RVH and biventricular hypertrophy in essential hypertension. Methods. A cohort of untreated and treated uncomplicated essential hypertensives consecutively attending a hospital outpatient hypertension clinic, categorized in three groups according to body mass index (BMI) thresholds (51 and 47 g/m2.7 and RVWT>3.1 and 3.0 mm) in the three groups were 7.3%, 21.2% and 32.7%, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, BMI (OR = 3.58, 95% CI 1.82-7.03, p = 0.0002), was the most important correlate of biventricular hypertrophy. Conclusions. Our findings extend previous data on the impact of obesity on cardiac structure by showing that this phenotype is strongly associated with biventricular hypertrophy