The association between p,p′-DDE levels and left ventricular hypertrophy is mainly mediated by obesity

• Published in: Environment international
• Main Authors: La Merrill, M.A., Lind, P M, Salihovic, S, van Bavel, B, Lind, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2016
• Subjects: adiposity; blood pressure; body mass index; DDE (pesticide); echocardiography; fasting; glucose; humans; hypertension; hypertrophy; metabolites; obesity; prospective studies; risk factors; structural equation modeling
• ISSN: 0160-4120
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.12.001

The pesticide metabolite p,p′-DDE has been associated with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and known risk factors for LV hypertrophy in humans and in experimental models. We hypothesized that the association of p,p′-DDE with LV hypertrophy risk factors, namely elevated glucose, adiposity and hypertension, mediates the association of p,p′-DDE with LV mass.p,p′-DDE was measured in plasma from 70-year-old subjects (n=988) of the Prospective Study of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors (PIVUS). When these subjects were 70-, 75- and 80-years old, LV characteristics were measured by echocardiography while fasting glucose, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure were assessed with standard clinical techniques.We found that p,p′-DDE levels were associated with increased fasting glucose, BMI, hypertension and LV mass in separate models adjusted for sex. Structural equation modeling revealed that the association between p,p′-DDE and LV mass was almost entirely mediated by BMI (70%), and also by hypertension (19%).The obesogenic effect of p,p′-DDE is a major determinant responsible for the association of p,p′-DDE with LV mass.