Implications of obesity for target organ injuries and cardiovascular risk factors in hypertensive subjects

The effects of obesity on target organ injuries and cardiovascular risk factors were examined in hypertensive subjects. The subjects were 22 obese (OB-HT) and 54 nonobese (NO-HT) men with never treated essential hypertension, and 37 obese (OB-NT) and 50 nonobese (NO-NT) normotensive men. In these 4 groups with the average age of about 50 years, we evaluated serum lipids, glucose tolerance, and hypertensive organ injuries in the heart, kidney, and optic fundus. Although the fasting blood glucose levels were similar in the 4 groups, the area under the blood glucose curve after 75g glucose ingestion (NO NT 15.6, OB-NT 17.5, NO HT 15.8, OB-HT l7.6 × 103 mg/dl ⋅ min ; p