Relationship of body fat distribution to blood pressure, carbohydrate tolerance, and plasma lipids in healthy obese women.

In 110 obese, healthy women, a relationship was sought between distribution of body fat and blood pressure, glucose tolerance, plasma insulin, and fasting plasma lipid and serum uric acid concentrations. The index of body fat distribution was the ratio of waist circumference to hips circumference (WHR). The WHR range in this group was 0.5 to 0.99, with a median value of 0.78. Positive, significant correlations were found between WHR and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and between WHR and the total integrated plasma glucose and insulin responses during 4 hr oral glucose tolerance tests. No relationship was found between WHR and age, the degree of obesity as defined by the weight-to-height ratio, or concentrations of fasting plasma free fatty acids, plasma triglyceride, plasma cholesterol, or serum uric acid. Subsequently, 27 women in the highest quartile of the WHR range (0.83 to 0.99) were compared to 28 age- and weight-matched subjects in the lowest quartile of WHR (0.5 to 0.73). Women in the highest quartile had systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as total plasma glucose and insulin responses during glucose tolerance tests that significantly exceeded mean values of subjects in the lowest quartile. We conclude that in healthy, obese women, a continuum exists that relates increasing fat accumulation in the upper body to progressively higher blood pressure, reduced carbohydrate tolerance, and higher plasma insulin concentrations. These changes occurred independently of age of degree of obesity in this population.