Context: Obesity and insulin resistance predispose patients with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to abnormalities in blood pressure regulation.Objective: Our objective was to evaluate the impact of obesity on the blood pressure profiles of PCOS patients.Patients, Setting, and Design: Thirty-six PCOS patients and 20 healthy women participated in a case-control study at an academic hospital. Main Outcome Measures:We conducted ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and office blood pressure determinations.Results: Hypertension (defined as increased office blood pressure confirmed by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring or by masked hypertension) was present in 12 PCOS patients and eight controls (P ϭ 0.618). No differences between patients and controls were found in office and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring values and heart rate, yet the nocturnal decrease in mean blood pressure was smaller in patients (P ϭ 0.038). Obese women (13 patients and eight controls) had increased frequencies of office hypertension (29% compared with 3% in lean plus overweight women, P ϭ 0.005), increased diastolic (P ϭ 0.009) and mean (P ϭ 0.015) office blood pressure values, and increased heart rate values during the daytime (P ϭ 0.038), nighttime (P ϭ 0.002), and 24-h (P ϭ 0.009) periods, independently of having PCOS or not. The frequency of a nocturnal nondipper pattern was 62% in obese PCOS patients, compared with 26% in lean plus overweight PCOS patients (P ϭ 0.036) and 25% in obese and in lean plus overweight controls. T HE POLYCYSTIC OVARY syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of complex etiology, with reported prevalence ranging from 5-10% in different countries (1, 2). PCOS is characterized by hyperandrogenism and ovulatory dysfunction and, in a significant proportion of patients, by the presence of insulin resistance (3, 4).Cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis cluster in PCOS patients, although the demonstration of an increased rate of cardiovascular events in PCOS is still pending (5). Among others, increased prevalence of obesity (6), disorders of glucose tolerance (including type 2 diabetes) (7) and insulin resistance (8), and dyslipidemia (9) as well as nonclassic cardiovascular risk factors such as low-grade chronic inflammation (3), increased oxidative stress (10), and endothelial dysfunction (11) have been reported in PCOS patients.However, hypertension is not characteristically associated with . Although the usually relatively young age of PCOS patients may explain the absence of hypertension despite the presence of insulin resistance (15), it is also possible that the office blood pressure measurements used in most studies are not sensitive enough to detect mild derangements in blood pressure regulation and that factors such as obesity may act as confounders obscuring the presence of actual abnormalities in the regulation of blood pressure in PCOS.The association of obesity with hypertension is well known (16) and is explained by several etiopathogenic mechanisms includi...

An increasing number of people are facing the burden of obesity. Besides the medical problems that are related to obesity, the reviewed literature shows that this disease has become a social stigma that affects the health-related quality of life of obese people. The study focused specifically on how the Personal/Group Discrimination Discrepancy may be related to obese individuals' subjective well-being (affect balance and life satisfaction). This concept refers to the phenomenon that members of groups who are potential targets of discrimination perceive a higher level of discrimination directed at their group than at themselves as individuals. A cross-sectional study with 72 obese patients of a Spanish University Hospital was conducted. It was found that personal discrimination was negatively related to subjective well-being, whereas group discrimination was not. Additionally, participants reported stronger levels of group discrimination than personal discrimination, and this personal/group discrimination discrepancy was related to affect balance (but not life satisfaction). Finally, it is suggested the importance of including social variables in the studies about health-related quality of life in obese populations.

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