- ALLERGY, RESPIRATORY
- Childhood Food Allergies on the Rise
- Molecule in Skin May Link Eczema and Asthma
- Folic Acid Might Offer Allergy Relief
- ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
- Regular Yoga May Improve Eating Habits
- When Healing Becomes a Commodity
- Memory Loss Help from Brain Supplement Prevagen
- ANIMAL CARE
- Rest Easy. When It Comes to Swine Flu, Your Pet Is Safe
- Separation Anxiety, Canine-Style
- 'Comfort Dogs' Come to Emotional Rescue
- BONES & JOINTS
- A Winning Strategy to Beat Spring Sporting Injuries
- Soccer's a Winner for Building Bone Health in Girls
- Stem Cells Might Treat Tough Fractures
- CANCER
- Study Suggests Link Between Cell Phones and Brain Tumors
- HPV Vaccine Has Higher Allergic Reaction Rate
- Broccoli May Help Battle Breast Cancer
- CAREGIVING
- Stressed Health Care Workers Battle 'Compassion Fatigue'
- Simpler Sleep Apnea Treatment Seems Effective, Affordable
- Are Hospital Mobile Phones Dialing Up Superbugs?
- CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
- Laughter Can Boost Heart Health
- Night Shift Work Hard on the Heart
- High Blood Fat Levels Common in Americans
- COSMETIC
- Gum Chewing May Cut Craving for Snacks
- Science May Banish Bad Hair Days
- The Acne Drug Accutane More Than Doubles Depression Risk
- DENTAL, ORAL
- Gum Disease Might Boost Cancer Risk
- Acid Drinks Blamed for Increase in Tooth Erosion
- Dental Implants Need More Work Than Root Canals
- DIABETES
- Patients' Photos Help Boost Radiologists' Accuracy
- Older Diabetics With Depression Face Higher Death Rate
- Study Shows Turmeric May Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
- DIET, NUTRITION
- Occaisonal Dieting May Cut Breast Cancer, Study Says
- Mediterranean Diet May Help Prevent Depression
- Mediterranean Diet Plus Exercise Lowers Alzheimer's Risk
- DISABILITIES
- Could Your Cell Phone Help Shield You From Alzheimer's?
- Review Finds Marijuana May Help MS Patients
- ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
- Researchers ID Genetic Markers for Esophageal Cancer
- Pesticides on Produce Tied to ADHD in Children
- Lead Exposure in Childhood Linked to Criminal Behavior Later
- EYE CARE, VISION
- Retinal Gene Is Linked to Childhood Blindness
- Kids Think Glasses Make Others Look Smart, Honest
- Ordinary Chores Cause Half of All Eye Injuries
- FITNESS
- Be Healthy, Spend Less
- Almost Two-Thirds of Americans Meet Exercise Guidelines
- Exercise Keeps the Brain Young
- GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS
- Gum Chewing May Speed Colon Surgery Recovery
- HRT Use Raises Risk of Stomach Trouble
- Japanese Herbals May Ease Gastro Woes
- GENERAL HEALTH
- Retail Clinics Attracting Those Without Regular Doctors
- Coffee Cuts Liver Scarring in Hepatitis C
- Simple Exercise Precautions To Help Keep Baby Boomers Fit
- HEAD & NECK
- Zen May Thicken Brain, Thwart Pain
- Ski Helmets Encouraged for All
- Many Children Will Outgrow Headaches
- HEALTH & TECHNOLOGY
- Airport Full Body Scanners Pose No Health Threat: Experts
- Save Your Aging Brain, Try Surfing The Web
- Imaging Sheds Light on How Acupuncture Works
- HEART & CARDIOVASCULAR
- Western Diet Linked To Heart Disease, Metabolic Syndrome
- Drinking Your Way to Health? Perhaps Not
- Using Light Therapy to Silence Harmful Brain Activity
- INFECTIOUS DISEASE
- Chinese 'Devil Dung' Plant Could Be a Swine Flu Fighter
- Swine Flu Closes Three Schools in NYC
- Bacterial Infections May Succumb to Honey
- KID'S HEALTH
- Soothing Imagery May Help Rid Some Kids of Stomach Pain
- Backpack Safety Should Be on Back-to-School Lists
- Traffic Seems to Make Kids' Asthma Worse
- MEN'S HEALTH
- Noise Hurts Men's Hearing More, Study Shows
- Low Vitamin D Levels May Boost Men's Heart Attack Risk
- Varicose Veins May Mask Larger Problem
- MENTAL HEALTH
- Teen Internet Addicts More Likely to Self-Harm: Study
- Brain Scans Show How Humans 'Hear' Emotion
- Eight Spiritual Universal Principles in the Art of Practice
- PREGNANCY
- Acupuncture May Relieve Acid Indigestation In Pregnancy
- Acupuncture May Ease Depression During Pregnancy
- Sleeping Could Help Women Lose The Baby Fat
- SENIORS
- Friends, Not Grandkids, Key to Happy Retirement
- Save Your Aging Brain, Try Surfing The Web
- Eating Well And Keeping Active As You Grow Old Will Help You Stay Sharp
Obesity Linked to Heart Failure Risk
By eHolistic.com Published: 04/07/2009
TUESDAY, April 7 (HealthDay News) -- Swedish studies add heart failure to the list of cardiac problems linked to overweight and obesity.
"The take-home message is that body-mass index, however we measure it, is associated with the risk of heart failure," said Emily B. Levitan, a research fellow at the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She is lead author of a report in the April 7 issue of Circulation: Heart Failure.
That report gave results of two studies, one of 36,873 Swedish women and one of 43,487 Swedish men, who were followed for six years and tracked for body-mass index (BMI) and the incidence of heart failure. Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25 and 30, and obesity as a BMI of 30 or higher. By that definition, 34 percent of the women in the study were overweight and 11 percent were obese, while 46 percent of the men were overweight and 10 percent were obese.
A gender difference emerged from the study of waist circumference in men and women. In women, BMI was associated with heart failure risk only among those who were fattest at the waist. In men, each one-point increase in BMI was associated with a 4 percent increase in heart failure risk, no matter what the waist size.
These are several possible explanations for the difference, Levitan said. "One is that the type of heart failure that men and women get is different," she said. "Another is that overall body size is more important than body shape in men."
Whatever the reason, the lesson for both men and women is that weight control can reduce the risk of heart failure, Levitan said.
"For many years, at least among physicians, we were taught that obesity in and of itself was not a risk factor for heart failure," said Dr. Muriel Jessup, professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. "We knew it to be a risk factor for coronary disease, but heart failure is a separate condition."
Coronary disease is blockage of heart arteries that can eventually cause a heart attack. Heart failure is the progressive loss of the heart's ability to pump blood.
While many patients who have heart failure also have coronary disease, this is not always so," Jessup said.
"These studies look at the impact of obesity and go a long way toward helping us understand why that is so," Jessup said.
The study, done among the ethnically homogeneous Swedish population, "can help us get insights into why some racial groups have early heart failure," she said. A study reported last month that heart failure tends to occur at least a decade earlier in blacks than in whites, Jessup noted.
While the incidence of coronary disease among Americans has been going down, heart failure has increased, she said. One reason is that methods of preventing and treating coronary disease have improved, Jessup said. "People don't die of myocardial infarction [heart attack] but go on to have heart failure," she said.
The link between excess weight and heart failure "is another reason for people to watch their weight and another signal to physicians to be more aware of following their obese patients," Jessup said.
Ed Edelson
More information
Learn about heart failure symptoms, prevention and treatment from the American Heart Association.
SOURCES: Emily B. Levitan, Sc.D., research fellow, Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit, Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, Boston; Muriel Jessup, M.D., professor, medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; April 7, 2009, Circulation
Last Updated: April 07, 2009
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