Weight gain early in life led to cardiovascular disease

Issue: April 2013

SAN FRANCISCO — Gaining weight at an early age could be a risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease later in life, according to a study presented here.

Perspective from Claire S. Duvernoy, MD, FACC

“The key message really is that prevention is better than cure…when an individual becomes overweight it's very difficult for those individuals to lose weight and get back to a normal weight,” Arjun K. Ghosh, MBBS, MRCP (UK), MSc, FHEA, clinical research fellow at the International Centre for Circulatory Health of Britain’s National Heart and Lung Institute and at the UK Medical Research Council’s Unit for Lifelong Health and Aging, said during a press conference. “As such, we’ve seen in my work that the longer an individual is overweight, the worse it is. So, we really need to prevent individuals from becoming overweight and obese in the first place.”

Ghosh and colleagues utilized the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development 1946 birth cohort (n=1,653), including data from echocardiography and BMI measurements at 60 to 64 years. BMI was also calculated at 20, 26, 36, 43 and 53 years.

Being overweight patients and elevated BMI measured at 20 years and beyond were both associated with increased left ventricular mass index (LVMI), according to data. Even when BMI at age 60 to 64 years was taken into account, this association remained for overweight patients with elevated BMI whose measurements were taken at 26, 43 years and 53 years. An association between relative wall thickness (RWT) and being overweight and elevated BMI was also noted from 43 years onward, data indicate. Furthermore, an earlier detection of patients’ overweight status was linked to greater increases in LVMI and RWT.

These findings suggest early intervention programs are needed to prevent such deleterious outcomes. – by Samantha Costa

For more information:

Ghosh AK. Abstract #1102-16. Presented at: American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions; March 9-11, 2013; San Francisco.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Perspective

Claire S. Duvernoy, MD, FACC

Ghosh’s study, looking at lifelong patterns of overweight and obesity coorelating with left ventricular hypertrophy later in life, is something that is very compelling. I think it makes sense and it’s really a call to action; his group is to be commended for that. It tells us that when you’re overweight and obese, your body has to work harder, even if you don’t have those typical risk factors that we think of as associated with overweight and obesity, like diabetes and hypertension. In a simplistic way of looking at it, if you carry a little more weight your body is going to have to work harder. Overweight and obese patients are going to have a few higher points of BP, a little higher pulse rate, and those things can make a difference. It’s an elegant study and makes a lot of sense. The challenge is: what are we going to do about it? To me it’s easy to say, we’ve got to prevent patients from being overweight. But the real truth and real difficulty in our society in the United States is that we need societal changes, we have to look at public health – increased public transportation, less reliance on the automobile, modifying portion sizes in the restaurants and servings of food. We have to make large scale societal changes; just saying to a patient you have to lose weight is not going to work.

Claire S. Duvernoy, MD, FACC

ACC Board of Governors Member

Chief at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System

Director of Women's Heart Program

Associate professor in the department of internal medicine,

University of Michigan Health System

Disclosures: Duvernoy reports no relevant financial disclosures.