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Weight cycling confers poor CV health in women
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Women who had a history of weight cycling had poorer CV health and were less likely to meet the BMI metric from the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7, according to data presented at the AHA Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions.
“Achieving a healthy weight is generally recommended as heart healthy, but maintaining weight loss is difficult and fluctuations in weight may make it harder to achieve ideal cardiovascular health,” Brooke Aggarwal, EdD, MS, assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, said in a press release.
Aggarwal, along with Stephanie S. Byun, MS, clinical research coordinator at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and colleagues analyzed data from 485 women (mean age, 37 years; mean BMI, 26 kg/m2) from the AHA Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Research Network. Women reported on their history of weight cycling, which was defined as losing and gaining more than 10 lb at least once not including pregnancy.
Researchers assessed AHA Life’s Simple 7 metrics, including BP, BMI, glucose, total cholesterol, physical activity, smoking and diet, and scored them as 0 (poor), 1 (moderate) or 2 (high). This information was used to calculate a composite AHA Life’s Simple 7 CV health score, which was categorized as poor (0-8), moderate (9-10) and high (11-14).
At least one episode of a history of weight cycling was reported by 73% of women.
Poor CV health was seen in 26% of women, 34% had moderate CV health and 40% had high CV health.
Women with a history of weight cycling were less likely to have an optimal BMI (OR = 0.18; 95% CI, 0.09-0.37). These women were also less likely to have a moderate (OR = 0.49; 95% CI, 0.27-0.89) or high AHA Life’s Simple 7 composite score (OR = 0.35; 95% CI, 0.19-0.66). Lower odds were not seen for other CV health metrics.
A high AHA Life’s Simple 7 score was less likely to be seen in women who were premenopausal (OR = 0.33; 95% CI, 0.14-0.78) and postmenopausal (OR = 0.34; 95% CI, 0.12-0.98), although this was only seen in women who were never pregnant (OR = 0.29; 95% CI, 0.12-0.72).
“These findings suggest that in addition to having a healthy weight, maintaining a consistent body weight may be important for achieving ideal [CV health], but they warrant prospective confirmation,” Byun and colleagues wrote. – by Darlene Dobkowski
Reference:
Byun SS, et al. Abstract 332. Presented at: American Heart Association Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Scientific Sessions; March 5-8, 2019; Houston.
Disclosures: The study was funded by the AHA’s Go Red for Women Strategically Focused Network Award. The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.