Heart failure is a chronic disease in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.
It can occur when the heart muscle is damaged or weakened, such as after a heart attack or as a result of high blood pressure and can also be caused by other conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and heart valve disease.
Symptoms of heart failure can include shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling in the legs and ankles, and difficulty exercising.
Heart failure is a serious condition that requires ongoing medical treatment and management to improve symptoms and prevent complications.
A new study has shown that the so-called “obesity paradox,” which suggested that overweight or obese heart failure patients were less likely to be hospitalized or die than those of normal weight, is not true.
Researchers found that if doctors measure their patients’ waist-to-height ratios, rather than relying on body mass index (BMI) alone, there is no such survival advantage for people with a BMI of 25kg/m2 or more.
This is because BMI does not account for factors such as body composition, where fat is distributed, and the weight of bones and muscles.
The team analyzed data from 1,832 women and 6,567 men with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction who were enrolled in a big international study taking place in 47 countries on six continents.
The researchers were interested in which patients were hospitalized with heart failure or who died from it.
They showed that the “obesity paradox” disappeared when results were adjusted to take into account all the factors that can affect outcomes.
The team found that more body fat was associated with a greater risk of death or hospitalization for heart failure, especially when measured using waist-to-height ratios.
The findings have important implications for primary care, as they raise the issue of the underdiagnosis of heart failure in people living with obesity.
Symptoms of breathlessness are often dismissed as solely due to obesity. It is now clear that obesity is a risk factor and driver of heart failure, and weight loss might improve outcomes.
The study also supports the use of waist-to-height ratio instead of BMI for heart failure patients.
However, the study has some limitations. For example, it may be difficult to accurately measure body shapes, such as waist circumference, and there may be further unknown factors that could affect the results.
The analysis was carried out on measurements and other data taken at the time participants joined the study and did not take into account any changes in weight or waist circumference during the follow-up period.
There were no data on the cardiorespiratory fitness of the participants, which could have an effect on the link between anthropometric measurements and outcomes.
Finally, the study’s findings cannot be extrapolated to patients with low BMIs or waist-to-hip ratio, as there were only a small number of such patients in the study.
In conclusion, the study debunks the idea of the “obesity paradox” in heart failure patients and shows that measuring waist-to-height ratios can be a better indicator of outcomes than BMI alone.
The findings have important implications for primary care, and weight loss might improve outcomes for heart failure patients.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease, and coconut sugar could help reduce artery stiffness.
If you care about weight loss, please read studies that hop extract could reduce belly fat in overweight people, and early time-restricted eating could help lose weight.
The study was conducted by John JJV Mcmurray et al and published in the European Heart Journal.
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