Obesity in hypertension: how innocent a bystander?

Hypertension and obesity frequently coexist in the same patient. However, the two disorders disparately affect cardiovascular function and structure. The presence of obesity significantly affects hypertensive target organ involvement. On one hand, obesity may tend to mitigate the harmful effects of a chronically elevated total peripheral and renal vascular resistance and lessen end-organ damage such as nephrosclerosis in essential hypertension. However, since both obesity and hypertension increase cardiac workload, although by different mechanisms, their presence in the same patient results in a double burden to the left ventricle. Congestive heart failure, sudden death, and coronary heart disease are common sequelae of obesity hypertension. Weight loss reduces arterial pressure by a decrease in intravascular volume and cardiac output associated with a fall in sympathetic activity. Intervention in obesity hypertension diminishes the dual hemodynamic burden imposed on the heart and becomes therefore a major objective in the prevention and treatment of heart disease.