ROCHESTER, MINN. -- A ten-year Mayo Clinic study of patients arriving at the emergency room has found that overweight or obese patients had their first heart attacks at a younger age than their normal-weight counterparts.
The study is the first to examine the effect of obesity on the age at which patients have a heart attack and their in-hospital outcomes. Compared with normal-weight patients, those who were overweight had heart attacks 3.6 years earlier, while the obese patients were 8.2 years younger. In-hospital outcomes were similar for the three groups. The findings are published in the August issue of Clinical Cardiology.
"The role of obesity in coronary artery disease has been controversial," says R. Scott Wright, M.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and author of the study. "Obese patients also tend to have problems with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, and many have believed that those factors are to blame for the increased heart attack risk among obese or overweight individuals. This study shows that even when other risk factors are taken into account, obesity is directly linked with early heart attack."
Healthy weight is calculated using the body mass index (BMI), which measures weight in relation to height. People with a BMI over 25 are considered overweight, while those with BMI over 30 are obese. A BMI calculator is available on MayoClinic.com, Mayo Clinic’s health information Web site, at http://www.mayoclinic.com/home?id=6.3.1.1.1.2.
"The definition of obesity is really based on excess body fat," says Mayo Clinic cardiologist Ray W. Squires, M.D., a study co-author. "Unfortunately, most of the techniques that measure body fat very precisely require equipment and time, so they’re not very practical for widespread use. But the BMI measurement is very easy to do. All you need to know is your height and weight."
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) calls the U.S. obesity epidemic "a critical public health concern," and says obesity among adults has increased by nearly 60 percent since 1991. "It’s important for people to determine their BMI," says Dr. Wright. "Many people may not think of themselves as overweight or obese because they look like their neighbors, friends and coworkers. But as we as a society are putting on excess weight, what looks ‘normal’ may not be healthy. Our study shows that carrying these extra pounds raises the risk of early heart attack."
Dr. Squires says people with BMI measurements above 25 should consult their doctors. "They should have a discussion regarding the relevance of that number to their overall health and other risk factors. Then they should develop a weight loss plan that would include both nutrition and physical activity, to help them achieve a lower BMI."
Information on BMI values at various heights and weights is also available in tabular form on MayoClinic.com.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2001
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