Assessment of the influence of body fat indices on antihypertensive drug responses.

Aims: Less than 50% of patients treated for hypertension reach a target office systolic blood pressure (SBP). We aimed to evaluate the role of adiposity on antihypertensive drug responses in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients.

Methods: Estimated glomerular filtration rates, body mass index (BMI), skinfold thickness (SFT), body surface areas and waist circumferences of 150 hypertensive patients naïve to treatment were measured. Treatment protocols were started as combination of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) plus calcium channel blocker (CCB), angiotensin receptor blocker plus CCB or ACE-I plus diuretic. Pre-treatment and change in blood pressure (ΔBP) after 4 weeks treatment were determined. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to find independent predictors of Δblood pressure changes, and multivariable binary logistic regression analysis to find independent predictors of target SBP < 140 mmHg at 4 weeks.

Results: A total of 104 patients reached the target systolic pressure of <140 mmHg at 4 weeks. Triceps, mid-abdomen and subscapular SFT were significantly thicker in the uncontrolled blood pressure group (P = .011, P = .006 and P = .016, respectively). Pretreatment SBP (r = 0.644), pretreatment diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = 0.188), subscapular SFT (r = -0.318), suprailiac SFT (r = -0.211) and ΔDBP (r = 0.433) were correlated with ΔSBP in correlation analysis. Pretreatment SBP (β = 0.644, 95% CI = 0.697-0.993, P < .001), subscapular SFT (β = -0.253, 95% CI = -0.886--0.329, P < .001), pretreatment DBP (β = -0.380, 95% CI = -0.1001- -0.453, P = .001) and ΔDBP (β = 0.401, 95% CI = 0.377-0.796, P < .001) were independent predictors of ΔSBP in multivariable linear regression analysis. Subscapular SFT was an independent predictor of target SBP < 140 mmHg in multivariable logistic regression analysis (OR = 0.895, 95% CI = 0.832-0.963, P = .003).

Conclusions: Subscapular SFT may be a valuable marker for prediction of response to antihypertensive drugs.