Abdominal Obesity Causes More Heart Damage Than General Weight Gain

A new study of 2,244 adults aged 46 to 78 found abdominal obesity damages hearts more than overall body weight, especially in men. Researchers at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf used cardiovascular MRI imaging to examine participants without known heart disease. “Abdominal obesity, a high waist-to-hip ratio, is associated with more concerning cardiac remodeling patterns than high body mass index (BMI) alone,” said lead author Dr. Jennifer Erley. The study showed 91 percent of males and 64 percent of females met WHO obesity criteria using waist-to-hip ratios. Abdominal fat caused heart muscle thickening and smaller chamber volumes, particularly affecting men’s right ventricles. General obesity enlarged heart chambers across all participants. The WHO considers waist-to-hip ratios above 0.90 for men and 0.85 for women indicators of abdominal obesity. (Story URL)