Your Body Weight History Predicts Your Risk Of Heart Failure

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Your body weight history predicts your risk of heart failure

Obesity and being overweight are known risk factors for heart failure. Scientists have found that the current body weight does not provide complete information, the likelihood of developing a problem increases and excess body weight in the past, even at a young age.

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In a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the authors showed that knowing how much weight people have during their lifetime can help doctors more likely to help doctors choose a treatment strategy for older patients. Simple questions provide important information in addition to the traditional risk factors for heart failure.

“There is more evidence that people who are recently obese are at lower risk. Our findings point to the importance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout life for heart health,”says Erin Michos, professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Doctors routinely assess risk factors for heart failure in older patients: blood pressure, level of physical activity, “bad cholesterol,” family history, diet, and body weight. Michos noted that a single weight estimate is quite informative, but a lifetime history of body weight provides much more.

In their study, Michos et al analyzed data from 6437 participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Participants, who were between 45 and 84 years old at the start of the study, were followed up for 13 years. Each of them gave information about their weight at the age of 20 and 40 years.

By the end of the study, 290 people had developed heart failure, 828 people had suffered heart attacks or strokes.

It has been shown that the risk of heart failure is increased by 34% with an increase in body mass index (BMI) for every 5 kg / m ², which was not surprising to scientists. However, the authors further found that obesity at age 20 (144 participants) was associated with a more than three-fold increase in the risk of heart failure, and obesity at age 40 (716 participants) doubled this probability compared with people who had a normal index. body weight at this age.

“Our research confirms that maintaining a healthy weight throughout life is most effective, and how long a person has been obese is very informative,” Michos concludes.

The scientists noted that their study was designed to demonstrate a link between past weight and heart failure, but it cannot show a causal relationship between the phenomena.