Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Enhanced blood pressure (BP) reactivity from stressors predicts hypertension, a disease more common in men than women throughout their reproductive age. Visceral obesity and genetic predisposition are major risk factors for hypertension. Here, we investigated whether visceral fat (VF) and one of the best-established loci of hypertension, CYP17A1, contribute to the sex difference in BP reactivity. In a community-based sample of 596 adolescents, we measured beat-by-beat BP during posture and math-stress tests, quantified visceral fat with magnetic resonance imaging, and genotyped all subjects at CYP17A1. Adolescent males versus females demonstrated greater BP reactivity to physical and mental stressors. In males but not females, VF was associated with higher BP reactivity to active standing and a specific variant of CYP17A1 was associated with higher BP reactivity to math stress. VF and CYP17A1 contribute to the observed sex-differences in BP reactivity.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Mariel Van Woudenberg
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2680515607