Clinical Research Young Women With Abdominal Obesity Have Subclinical Myocardial Dysfunction

Background: Abdominal obesity is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The effect of abdominal obesity on myocardial function in young obese women remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate cardiac morphology and function, myocardial deformation, and mechanical indices, in young women with and without abdominal obesity. Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of 39 women with abdominal obesity (waist circumference � 80 cm) and 33 nonobese control subjects (waist circumference < 80 cm) aged 18-30 years underwent conventional echocardiographic measures of cardiac morphology and function together with tissue Doppler, and 2-dimensional speckle tracking measures of myocardial deformation and mechanics. Cardiometabolic risk factors including anthropometric, hypertension, biochemistry, and fitness were also assessed. Results: Standard echocardiography results for cardiac morphology and function were similar between groups, with the exception of larger left atrial dimensions in women with abdominal obesity (P � 0.05).