Do you have weight around your abdomen? Waist circumference is considered as a strong predictor of heart disease in the case of patients affected with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Surprisingly, this finding is not a function of body mass index (BMI) or total body weight. And the observation holds good even if these patients have no current manifestations of heart disease.
This study has been conducted by the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, Salt Lake City and John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. The paper was presented at the 2016 American College of Cardiology Scientific Session in Chicago on April 2. The title of the presentation was “Waist Circumference Is a Strong Predictor of Regional Left Ventricular Dysfunction in Asymptomatic Diabetic Patients: The Factor-64 Study.”
The new dataset collected by this study complements anotherrecent studywhich suggested that clinicians already moved away from single metrics determination (Like BMI) of overall patient health.
Around 200 diabetic men and women with no reported coronary disease were examined. Scientists concluded that more than body weight and BMI, abdominal obesity was strongly associated with regional left ventricular (LV) dysfunction which is a common cause of heart disease and probably congestive heart failure. LV dysfunction caused blood backs up into the lungs and lower extremities which often lead to heart failure and sudden cardiac arrest.
“Our research examined patients with diabetes, who are considered high risk for developing heart disease already, and found that the shape of your body determined if you were at a greater risk to develop left ventricular dysfunction,” informed J. Brent Muhlestein, M.D., Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.
“This study confirms that having an apple-shaped body—or a high waist circumference—can lead to heart disease, and that reducing your waist size can reduce your risks,” mentioned Dr. Muhlestein.
Earlier study, called faCTor-64 concluded that that the greater is the BMI of a person, the greater the risk of heart disease. All types of obesity can produce stress on the heart but abdominal obesity is the strongest predictive factor so far as LV dysfunction is concerned.
“We specifically found that waist circumference appears to be a stronger predictor for LV dysfunction than total body weight or BMI,” mentioned Boaz D. Rosen, M.D, who was the principal investigator of the current study. However, he firmly opined the need of further studies to verify the new findings: “It will be important to see if these patients are indeed at risk of developing heart failure or coronary artery disease in the future.”
Incidentally, Diabetes is a major health problem in the United States. About 21 million Americans are confirmed to be diagnosed with the disease, and estimated 8.1 million are afflicted with the disease without being undiagnosed. It is no surprise that cardiovascular death rates are 1.7 times higher in the case of adults with diabetes.
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Author: Technology and Beyond
