Relation of Visfatin and obesity indices in obese normo-and hypertensive subjects

Obesity is a common but often underestimated condition of clinical and public health importance in many countries around the world. It increases the risk of the development of hypertension. Obesity--induced hypertension is characterized by activation of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), metabolic dysregulation (including hyperinsulinemia, adipokine imbalance, and increased inflammatory cytokines) For all these mechanisms, different adipokines and inflammatory cytokines are responsible, which are secreted by adipose tissue. Visfatin, which is an adipokine, secreted from visceral adipose tissue can have role in implication of inflammation related to excessive obesity. So the aim of this study was to estimate association of Visfatin and obesity indices in normo- and hypertensive subjects. The present study included 80 obese subjects out of which 50 were hypertensive and 30 were normotensive. In both the groups, waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was calculated along with Visfatin in serum. The relation of above parameters in both the groups was done using student t-test and Pearson's correlation coefficient. In the present study, SBP, DBP and Visfatin were highly significant in obese hypertensive group than normotensive group. There were no significant difference between BMI and WHR in both the groups. Visfatin significantly positively correlates with BMI, SBP and DBP. Thus, we can conclude that Visfatin levels were correlated with obesity indices and blood pressure in obese hypertensive subjects.