Impact of metabolic syndrome on left ventricular mass in overweight and obese hypertensive subjects

Background Metabolic syndrome (MS) has been associated with an increased left ventricular (LV) mass in recent reports. Little is known about the association of MS with LV mass (LVM) in overweight and obese individuals. The aim of our study was to investigate the relation between MS and LVM in a population of overweight and obese hypertensive subjects. Methods 289 non-diabetic essential hypertensives with a body mass index > 25 kg/m2, were enrolled. In all subjects routine blood chemistry, echocardiographic examination and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were performed. Results In the group of overweight patients, participants with MS (n = 58), when compared to those without it (n = 127), exhibited significantly greater LVM indexed for height2.7 (LVMH2.7) (50 ± 12 vs 44 ± 11 g/m2.7; p = 0.0001), even after controlling for age, gender and 24-h systolic blood pressure. Similar results were obtained in the group of obese individuals, being LVMH2.7 (56 ± 12 vs 44 ± 9 g/m2.7; p < 0.0001) greater in subjects with MS (n = 77) than in those without MS (n = 27), even after adjustment for age, gender and clinic systolic blood pressure. The independent association of MS with LVMH2.7 in overall study population was confirmed by linear multiple regression analyses (β = 0.20; p = 0.0004). Conclusions MS seems to increase LVM over and above the potential contribution of blood pressure, body size and other single components of this syndrome. Since LV hypertrophy is a well-known predictor of cardiovascular events, our results may partly explain the enhanced cardiovascular risk associated with MS.