Abstract
BackgroundExcess aldosterone has been shown to be associated with obesity; however, there is currently a lack of data regarding the relationship between percentage of body fat and primary aldosteronism (PA), particularly pertaining to Asian populations. Furthermore, essential hypertension may mimic the condition of PA and there needs to be differentiation between the two. This study aimed to assess the association between percentage of body fat and PA.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient department of the Endocrine and Metabolism Unit of the tertiary care medical center in Thailand. Data was obtained from 79 patients who had been screened for PA due to hypertension in young-onset, hypokalemia, adrenal incidentaloma or resistance hypertension. Essential hypertension was defined as patients who had high blood pressure and were negative for PA screening. Body fat percentage was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The relationship between percentage of body fat and a diagnosis of PA was assessed using logistic regression analysis, including adjustment for confounding factors.ResultsThe participants were divided into a PA group (n = 41) and an essential hypertension group (n = 38). After controlling for confounding variables (age, sex, body mass index, cholesterol and insulin resistance status), the odds ratio of having PA in males with a percentage of body fat > 25% and females with percentage > 30% was 1.82 (95%CI = 1.79–1.86, p < 0.001).ConclusionA higher percentage of body fat is associated with an increased risk of PA. Further studies need to be conducted to confirm the relationship between body fat percentage and PA.
Highlights
Excess aldosterone has been shown to be associated with obesity; there is currently a lack of data regarding the relationship between percentage of body fat and primary aldosteronism (PA), pertaining to Asian populations
Data are categorized by results of PA screening which were PA and essential hypertension
Average body fat percentage was higher in males than in females, but there was no significant difference in body fat percentage between the PA and essential hypertension groups (p = 0.214 in females and 0.941 in males)
Summary
Excess aldosterone has been shown to be associated with obesity; there is currently a lack of data regarding the relationship between percentage of body fat and primary aldosteronism (PA), pertaining to Asian populations. This study aimed to assess the association between percentage of body fat and PA. The most common form of secondary hypertension is primary aldosteronism (PA) which has a reported prevalence in the general population of > 10% [10]. One study demonstrated a moderate correlation between percentage of visceral fat and plasma aldosterone concentration in patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism which is one of the subtypes of PA [14]. As yet there are no conclusive data regarding the association between percentage body fat and PA in Asian populations, a lacuna that needs to be addressed [14, 15]. The commonly used cut-off points for body fat percentage used to define obesity in males and females are > 25 and > 30%, respectively [16, 17]
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