Impact of Overweight in Mens with Family History of Hypertension: Early Heart Rate Variability and Oxidative Stress Disarrangements

AIM: To evaluate cardiovascular, autonomic, and oxidative stress markers in eutrophic and overweight offspring of hypertensive parents comparing them to eutrophic and overweight offspring of normotensive parents. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study. We selected 71 male and sedentary subjects, divided into 4 groups: eutrophic group with a negative family history of hypertension (EH-, n = 18) or positive family history of hypertension (EH+, n = 17), overweight group with a negative family history of hypertension (OH-, n = 19) or a positive family history of hypertension (OH+, n = 17), and aged between 18 and 35 years. RESULTS: Blood glucose was higher in the OH+ group when compared to other groups. Diastolic blood pressure was increased in OH- and OH+ groups when compared to eutrophic groups. Regarding the HRV, the LF abs was higher in OH- and OH+ groups when compared to the EH- group. LF/HF values were higher in EH+ and OH+ groups when compared to the EH- and OH- groups. As to oxidative stress and the metabolism of nitric oxide, we observed an increase in hydrogen peroxide and nitrite levels in the OH+ group, and in the NADPH oxidase in OH- and OH+ groups when compared to the other groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that the overweight group with a family history of hypertension presented all the dysfunctions observed in isolation from these risk factors. We observed an exacerbation of cardiac sympathetic modulation and early prooxidants increase, which may be associated with target organ damage and cardiovascular risk in this population.