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Adolescent obesity may increase cardiomyopathy odds in adulthood
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Adult men who had elevated body weight in adolescence may have elevated risk for cardiomyopathy, according to findings published in Circulation.
Josefina Robertson, MD, of the department of public health and community medicine/primary health care at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues investigated the potential link between obesity in adolescence and being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy in adulthood.
“We were interested in studying cardiomyopathies because heart failure caused by this historically uncommon disorder doubled in Sweden between 1987 and 2006,” Annika Rosengren, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Gothenburg and cardiologist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, said in a press release.
The researchers examined data from a nationwide register-based prospective cohort study of 1,668,893 adolescent men who enlisted for military service between 1969 and 2005 (mean age, 18 years).
Patients were tested for fitness and muscle strength while having their baseline BMI, BP and medical disorders registered, Robertson and colleagues wrote. BMI was categorized into eight groups ranging from less than 18.5 kg/m2 to 35 kg/m2 or greater.
The researchers categorized cardiomyopathy diagnoses from National Hospital Register into four classifications including alcohol/drug-induced, dilated, hypertrophic and other.
During a median follow-up period of 27 years, 4,477 patients developed cardiomyopathy. Of the cardiomyopathy cases, 59% were dilated, 15% were hypertrophic and 11% were alcohol/drug-induced.
The risk for cardiomyopathy elevated with increasing BMI, starting at levels considered normal (HR for BMI, 22.5-< 25 kg/m2 = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.22-1.57), with a greater than eightfold increased risk at 35 kg/m2 or greater compared with participants with BMI 18.5 kg/m2 to < 20 kg/m2, the researchers wrote.
For each 1-U increase in BMI, the adjusted HR for dilated cardiomyopathy was 1.15 (95% CI, 1.14-1.17) the aHR for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was 1.09 (95% CI, 1.06-1.12) and the aHR for alcohol/drug-induced cardiomyopathy was 1.1 (95% CI, 1.06-1.13).
The researchers wrote that the study’s results added to the literature that elevated BMI identified in adolescence was associated with adult cardiomyopathy diagnosis.
“The already marked importance of weight control in youth is further strengthened by these findings as well as greater evidence for obesity as a potential important cause of adverse cardiac remodeling that is independent of clinically evident ischemic heart disease,” Robertson and colleagues wrote. – by Earl Holland Jr.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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