Prevalence of obesity in women of different ages and its relationship with arterial stiffness

Background. General and abdominal obesity is widespread among women in the Russian population. The relationship between obesity and arterial stiffness, as a predictor of the development of cardiovascular diseases, in women of different ages remains unclear. Aims: to study the relationship between obesity and arterial stiffness and dynamics of central aortic pressure in women of different ages with preserved and lost reproductive function. Methods. 161 women were examined and divided into 3 groups. Two groups included women with preserved reproductive function: group 1 consisted of 52 young women aged from 18 to 30 years (23.8 ± 5.3 years); group 2 included 54 women aged from 31 years to the menopause (41 ± 5.9 years). Group 3 included 55 postmenopausal women (55.4 ± 5.8 years). All the women underwent a clinical examination with anthropometry; questioning; 24-hour monitoring of the dynamics of blood pressure with measuring the indicators of arterial stiffness and daily aortic central pressure; determination of the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV); study of vascular stiffness by volume sphygmography. Results. The anthropometric data in groups 2 and 3 were comparable in terms of the prevalence of general obesity (GO). Abdominal obesity (AO) was detected in 19.2% of the 1st group; 51.9% of the 2nd and 76.4% of the 3rd group. In the 1st group AO had the strongest correlation with the aortic pulse wave velocity PWVao (R = 0.41, p = 0.002) and the corrected to HR75 augmentation index Aixao (R = 0.38, p = 0.005). In the 2nd group AO correlates with cfPWV (R = 0.4, p = 0.003); GO with PWVao (R = 0.38, p = 0.005) and aortic cardio-ankle vascular index CAVIao (R = 0.48, p = 0.001). In the 2nd group AO and GO are also interconnected with the central and peripheral pressure. In the 3rd group AO correlates with PWVao (R = 0.33, p = 0.01), cfPWV (R = 0.32, p = 0.02); GO with the index of the double product IDP (R = 0.36, p = 0.01). Conclusions. Obesity, especially its abdominal type, is an important factor determining the development of vascular wall stiffness in women of the reproductive age. It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive assessment of arterial stiffness and daily dynamics of central aortic pressure in women of all ages, suffering from obesity and, first of all, its abdominal type, in order to early diagnose subclinical changes in the vascular wall and central hemodynamic disorders.