ENDOTHELIAL COMPLICATIONS IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS WITH OBESITY OR NORMAL BODY WEIGHT AFTER COVID-19

Abstract

Objective: To study the contribution of a COVID-19 to endothelial dysfunction in hypertensive patients with obesity or normal body weight. Design and method: 59 hypertensive patients, male and female, aged 20–50 years (40.2 ± 6.7 years), with blood pressure (BP) under control, without diabetes, non-smokers were included in the study. All of them were divided into three groups: I (n = 13) - patients with obesity (body mass index (BMI) > 30 kg/m2) and 1 month after COVID-19; II (n = 11) - patients with normal body weight (BMI < 25 kg/m2) and 1 month after COVID-19; III (n = 25) - patients with obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) without COVID-19. Patients of Ith and IIIth groups were comparable in BMI and BP levels. LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides levels, office systolic BP and diastolic BP, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) study to assessed endothelial function, were performed in all groups. Calculation was done with software STATISTICA 6.0. Results: Post-COVID-19 patients with obesity had significantly higher levels LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides, systolic BP and diastolic BP then in post-COVID-19 patients with normal body weight: 3.5 ± 0.7 mmol/l vs 3.02 ± 0.62 mmol/l (p < 0.05), 3.5 ± 2.9 mmol/l vs 1.10 ± 0.3 mmol/l (p < 0.05), 141 ± 9.6 mmHg vs 123 ± 10.3 mmHg (p < 0.05), 89.5 ± 10.01 mmHg vs 76 ± 8.8 mmHg (p < 0.05) respectively. FMD were significantly lower in patients with obesity and COVID-19 (3.6 ± 2.9%, p < 0.05) then in patients with normal body weight and COVID-19 (8.7 ± 3.4%, p < 0,05) and in patients with obesity without COVID-19 (4.2 ± 3.6%, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our study highlights that chronic impairment of systemic vascular endothelial function in patients with obesity, when intensified by the detrimental effects of SARS-CoV-2 over the endothelium, may explain their worse outcomes in COVID-19. However, obesity itself is one of important factors contributing to deterioration of endothelial function.