Abstract
Existing data on the association between being overweight and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality risk in adults are inconsistent. We prospectively and longitudinally investigated the effects of weight on arterial stiffness and plasma metabolites in middle-aged subjects (aged 40–55 years). A group of 59 individuals who remained within the range of overweight during repeated measurements over a 3-year period was compared with a control group of 59 normal weight subjects who were matched for age and gender. Changes in metabolites by UPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometry and changes in brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) were examined. At baseline, the overweight group showed higher BMI, waist circumference, triglyceride, free fatty acid (FFA), glucose, insulin, and hs-CRP, and lower HDL-cholesterol than controls. After 3 years, the changes in waist circumference, diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP and SBP), triglyceride, FFA, glucose, insulin, hs-CRP, and ba-PWV observed in the overweight group were significantly different from those in the control group after adjusting for baseline levels. Furthermore, the overweight group showed greater increases in L-octanoylcarnitine (q=0.006) and decanoylcarnitine (q=0.007), and higher peak intensities of L-leucine, L-octanoylcarnitine, and decanoylcarnitine. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the change in ba-PWV was independently and positively associated with changes in L-octanoylcarnitine, lactosylceramide, and SBP, and with baseline BMI. Our results indicate that the duration of overweight is an important aggravating factor for arterial stiffness, especially during middle age. Additionally, an age-related increase in plasma L-octanoylcarnitine, lactosylceramide, SBP, and baseline BMI are independent predictors of increased arterial stiffness in middle-aged individuals.
Highlights
A recent systematic review of studies examining the relationship between standard body mass index (BMI) categories and all-cause mortality found that obesity was associated with higher mortality risk whereas being overweight was associated with a lower risk of mortality compared with normal weight [1]
At the 3-year follow-up the overweight group showed an increase in waist circumference, SBP and DBP, free fatty acid (FFA), insulin, homeostasis-model assessment (HOMA)-Insulin resistance (IR), and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (PWV) (ba-PWV) compared with baseline levels, and the changes in waist circumference, SBP, DBP, triglyceride, FFA, glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and baPWV observed in the overweight group were significantly different from those in the normal weight group after adjusting for baseline levels (Table 1)
There were no significant differences in total energy expenditure or the proportion of subjects who smoke and/or drink alcohol between the baseline and 3-year follow-up data
Summary
A recent systematic review of studies examining the relationship between standard body mass index (BMI) categories and all-cause mortality found that obesity was associated with higher mortality risk whereas being overweight was associated with a lower risk of mortality compared with normal weight [1]. McDonough et al [3] showed that overweight individuals were 20% more likely to have a lower health-related quality of life than people of normal weight. These inconsistent results for overweight individuals could result from differences between ethnic groups or the wide age range covered in previous studies. Arterial stiffness, measured as central pulse wave velocity (PWV), is most strongly correlated with CVD [5] and is predictive of both cardiovascular morbidity and all-cause mortality in adults [6]. We performed metabolic profiling by UPLC-LTQOrbitrap mass spectrometry in overweight middle-aged (40-to 55-year-old) individuals and normal weight controls over a 3-year period
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