This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Risk for CVD evident in obese adolescents

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Early cardiac functional disturbances may explain the obesity risk for cardiac disease in asymptomatic adolescents, researchers said at the European Society of Cardiology 2012 Heart Failure Congress.

Results of a study of 97 healthy adolescents (mean age, 12.6 years) showed that, as BMI increased, so did interventricular septal wall thickness (lean children, 0.84 cm; overweight, 0.88 cm; obese, 0.96 cm) and left ventricular posterior wall thickness (lean, 0.78 cm; overweight, 0.8 cm; obese, 0.94 cm; P=.001 for both). Parallel to BMI, researchers also found increases in relative wall thickness (lean, 0.34; overweight, 0.34; obese, 0.4) and LV mass index (lean, 47.7 g/m²; overweight, 51.9 g/m²; obese, 65.2 g/m²; P=.001 for both). The measures of heart size were made using electrocardiogram information.

Researchers also assessed measures of heart function. They found that only obese adolescents had reduced LV early diastolic lateral velocity (lean, 15.3 cm/s; overweight, 13.6 cm/s; obese, 10.5 cm/s; P=.001) and septal velocity (lean, 12.2 cm/s; overweight, 11.1 cm/s; obese, 9.8 cm/s; P=.003). The same reductions in systolic velocities were also observed in obese adolescents only: early systolic lateral velocity (lean, 9.2 cm/s; overweight, 9.3 cm/s; obese, 8.0 cm/s; P=.001) and septal velocity (lean, 9.05 cm/s; overweight, 9.0 cm/s; obese, 7.6 cm/s; P=.014). LV lateral diastolic (P=.001) and systolic (P=.005) velocities correlated with BMI, the researchers said.

For the study, adolescents were divided into groups based on BMI: lean (n=32), overweight (n=33) and obese (n=32).

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.