Assessment of the ventricular-arterial coupling in obese patients with normal ejection fraction

Obesity is a major health problem worldwide, with important economic and social effects. Obesity affects cardiovascular and respiratory systems directly. In this paper, after presenting a noninvasive indicator of contractility, based on the clinical echocardiografic measurements, a computer model (implemented in Simulink) based on the simplified circuit of the cardiovascular model is used, taking into account the ventriculo-arterial coupling. The simulation results, and clinical tests expresses of a good correlation of the chosen noninvasive indicator of contractility with body mass index and the single-beat elastance in obese patients.