Impact of obesity as a mortality predictor in high-risk patients with myocardial infarction or chronic heart failure: a pooled analysis of five registries.

Description

Although obesity is associated with an increased risk of mortality and myocardial infarction (MI), several studies have shown that in high-risk patients with MI or chronic heart failure (HF), obesity appears to be associated with a favourable prognosis. This study by Abdulla et al. sought to investigate the influence of obesity on prognosis in high-risk patients with either MI or HF in five Danish registries. The study involved a total of 21,570 patients, 15,091 of whom had MI and 6,479 of whom had HF, who were followed for 10.4 years. In the univariate model, only underweight individuals (body mass index (BMI) 35kg/m2) also had an increased mortality risk [HR=1.15 (95% CI, 1.03-1.30)]. In contrast to MI patients, only underweight HF patients showed an increased mortality risk [HR=1.37 (95% IC, 1.18-1.59)]. Normal weight, overweight, and obese patients with HF were not found to be at increased risk of all-cause mortality. These findings suggest that both underweight and obese class II patients with MI do have an increased mortality risk. In participants with HF, however, obesity was not associated with an increased mortality risk.