Umbilical Hernia May Also Be a Sequel of Metabolic Syndrome

Background: We tried to understand whether or not there is a relationship between umbilical hernia and metabolic syndrome. Methods: Consecutive patients with an umbilical hernia and/or a surgical operation history for umbilical hernia were studied. Results: There were 46 patients with umbilical hernia with a mean age of 62.0 years, and 73.9% of them were females. The hernia patients were heavier than the controls (85.1 versus 73.1 kg, p= 0.001). Body mass index of them was also higher (33.6 versus 29.1 kg/m2, p= 0.000). Although the prevalence of hypertension (HT) was higher in the hernia group (50.0% versus 27.3%, p<0.01), mean values of triglyceride and low density lipoproteins and prevalence of white coat hypertension (WCH) were lower in them (p<0.05 for all). Although the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease were also higher in the hernia group, the differences were non-significant probably due to the small size of the study group. Conclusion: There are significant relationships between umbilical hernia and terminal consequences of metabolic syndrome including obesity and HT, probably on the bases of prolonged inflammatory and atherosclerotic effects beside pressure effect of excessive fat tissue on abdominal muscles. The inverse relationships between obesity and hypertriglyceridemia and hyperbetalipoproteinemia may be explained by the hepatic fat accumulation, inflammation, and fibrosis induced relatively lost hepatic functions in obese individuals. Similarly, the inverse relationship between obesity and WCH may be explained by progression of WCH into HT in obese individuals. So obesity may actually be a precirrhotic condition for the human body.