Obesity only weakly related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors in black South African women

This study was designed to investigate whether black African women had higher blood pressures (BP) than Caucasian women, and whether obesity was related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors. In total, 102 African and 115 Caucasian women, with comparable age and body mass index, participated in the study. When compared to Caucasian women, African women had significantly higher BP (P<0.01) with increased peripheral vascular resistance, but showed significantly weaker correlations between obesity measures and cardiovascular risk markers such as systolic BP, arterial resistance, cardiac output, fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, leptin and resistin. Interestingly, there was no significant difference in these latter cardiovascular risk markers between the low-BP and high-BP groups. In African women however, obesity was significantly correlated with triglycerides, C-reactive protein and HOMA, as observed in Caucasian women. In conclusion, although African women have higher BP than their Caucasian counterparts, their obesity levels appear weakly related to traditional cardiovascular risk factors compared to Caucasian women, although components of the association suggest a link with insulin resistance.

Abstract

Keywords:
Abdominal obesity – Blood pressure – Cardiovascular risk – CRP – HOMA – Hypertension – Insulin resistance – Obesity – Triglycerides