Sub-clinical organ damage in hypertension and obesity

Abstract Background The development of sub-clinical organ damage precedes and predicts the occurrence of cardiovascular (CV) events in hypertensive as well as in obese patients. Aim and methods We investigated the prevalence and clinical correlates of organ damage (OD), namely carotid atherosclerosis (US scan) and urine albumin to creatinine ratio (three non-consecutive first morning samples) in a group of 164 obese patients and in an age- and gender-matched group of non-obese hypertensive patients. Results There was a significantly greater prevalence and severity of OD in obese patients as compared to non-obese hypertensive patients. In particular obese patients more frequently had microalbuminuria (16 vs7%, χ 2 5.8, P=0.0157) and carotid abnormalities (53 vs 10%, χ 2 69.5, P Conclusions Sub-clinical OD is highly prevalent in obese patients, even in the absence of high blood pressure. Hypertension and obesity seem to exert an independent, possibly non-additive role on the occurrence of organ damage.