Mechanisms underlying obesity associated with systemic and renal hemodynamics in essential hypertension.

Obesity and hypertension frequently coexist and are considered major "factors of risk" associated with coronary heart disease. This report identifies the systemic and renal hemodynamic alterations associated with obesity in normotensive and essential hypertensive patients. An expanded intravascular (plasma) volume is associated with obesity, which is related to an increased venous return to the heart, increased cardiac output, and increased blood flow to kidneys and other organs in normal and hypertensive patients. The cardiac consequences result in structural and functional alterations. Although recently postulated pathophysiologic mechanisms have been associated with obesity, none has yet been related to the hemodynamic alterations associated with obesity that coexist in patients with essential hypertension.