The increase in the prevalence of obesity, which has been considered as an epidemic by the World Health Organisation, is a serious, worldwide, health problem. Importantly, hypertension and diabetes are frequently associated with obesity, and, together, they constitute a significant burden, in terms of both patients' morbidity and health care costs. The driving forces linking obesity, hypertension, and diabetes remain to be clarified due, in part, to the fact that environmental, genetic, life style and behavioral confounders are involved generating the disease state. Additionally, it is recognized that neuroendocrine mechanisms, including insulin resistance, sympathetic nervous activation, stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), and adiponectin and leptin, are related to obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes.

Importantly, taken in isolation, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes are all associated with increased risk of the development of cardiovascular and renal complications; however, with coexistence of diabetes and hypertension, the risk is elevated substantially more. The purpose of this special issue is to present the current findings on “hypertension and diabetes in obesity”, especially focused on the mechanisms linking the three with a focus on disease onset and development. A better understanding of the relationships and interactions between the physiological mechanisms of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes may help in the development of appropriate clinical treatment of obesity-related hypertension and obesity-related hypertension accompanied with diabetes. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Epidemiology of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes in USA
• High prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in hypertension and obesity
• Cardiovascular and renal complications in patients with hypertension and diabetes
• Sympathetic nervous system activity in patients with hypertension and diabetes
• Insulin resistance in patients with hypertension
• Interrelationships between sympathetic nervous activity and insulin resistance in hypertension and obesity
• RAAS in patients with hypertension and diabetes
• Adiponectin and leptin in patients with hypertension and diabetes
• Interrelationships between sympathetic nervous system activity, insulin resistance, RAAS, and leptin in hypertension and diabetes
• Adrenoceptor polymorphisms in hypertension, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and obesity
• Leptin receptor polymorphisms in hypertension, diabetes, and obesity
• Treatments:
  • lifestyle modification (weight loss program)
  • bariatric surgery (gastric banding, gastric bypass surgery)
  • pharmacological treatments for obesity and hypertension

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