Obesity Is Associated With Larger Arterial Diameters in Caucasian and African-American Young Adults
- Rachel P. Wildman, PHD1,
- Vinay Mehta, MS2,
- Trina Thompson, RN, RVT, MPH2,
- Sarah Brockwell, PHD2 and
- Kim Sutton-Tyrrell, DRPH2
- 1Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana
- 2Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Kim Sutton-Tyrrell, DrPH, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 127 Parran Hall, 130 DeSoto St., Pittsburgh, PA 15261. E-mail: tyrrell{at}edc.pitt.edu
Risk factors for larger arterial diameters and enhanced wall thickening have been insufficiently assessed in young adults, an age-group where preventive measures have the greatest impact. Larger vessel diameter and wall thickening may represent underlying vascular remodeling, a dynamic process by which the vascular system attempts to compensate for vascular damage (1). The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between obesity and arterial diameter and wall thickness in healthy Caucasian and African-American young adults. Associations were examined in both the muscular peripheral arteries and the more elastic central arteries.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Measurements were made in 205 participants aged 20–40 years. Exclusion criteria included use of antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, thyroid, blood glucose-lowering, or cardiovascular medications and history of lupus or clinical cardiovascular disease. This study was approved by the University of Pittsburgh’s institutional review board. All participants provided written informed consent before study protocol initiation.
Left brachial artery adventitial diameter was determined during diastole by electronic caliper measurement of the adventitial to adventitial diameter. For common carotid measurements, the left distal common carotid artery near and far walls were imaged, and lines were electronically drawn along a 1-cm segment of the lumen-intima interface and the media-adventitia interface. The mean intima-media thickness (IMT) was averaged over the near and far walls. The lumen diameter (intima-intima distance) was calculated …
