Big belly increases death risk in heart attack survivors

High waist circumference, severe obesity and underweight are associated with the greatest risk of death in heart attack survivors

2013-09-01

(Press-News.org) Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Sunday 1 September 2013 : Having a big belly increases the risk of death in heart attack survivors, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Tabassome Simon and Professor Nicolas Danchin from France. The findings from the FAST-MI 2005 registry suggest that lifestyle interventions in heart attack patients should focus on losing abdominal fat.

Professor Simon said: "The impact of obesity on long term mortality and cardiovascular complications in the general population has been the object of recent debate. Much emphasis has also been given to the deleterious role of abdominal obesity."

She added: "At the time of a heart attack, early mortality tends to be lower in obese patients, a phenomenon well known in critical care situations and described as the 'obesity paradox'. Little is known, however, about the potential impact of obesity and abdominal obesity on long-term outcomes in patients who have survived the acute stage of a heart attack."

The current study sought to determine the associations between body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and waist circumference with 5-year mortality in patients of the FAST-MI 2005 registry who had left the hospital alive.

FAST-MI 2005 is a French nationwide survey which included 3,670 patients from 223 institutions who were admitted for acute myocardial infarction to an intensive care unit at the end of 2005. Long-term follow-up was achieved in 99.6% at one year, 98% at 3 years, and 95% at 5 years. Of the 3,463 patients who were discharged alive, BMI was recorded in 3,102 and waist circumference in 1,647 patients. Statistical techniques were used to take into account the differences in baseline characteristics between the different BMI groups.

At 5 years, absolute mortality was highest in the leanest patients (BMI 100 cm in women and >115 cm in men) was also associated with increased long-term mortality (Figure 2).

Professor Simon said: "As waist circumference is strongly linked to BMI, we determined the upper quartile of waist circumference (i.e. quarter of the population with the highest waist circumference) within each BMI category and used both variables together to determine their respective role in association with long-term mortality."

She continued: "We found that both lean patients (BMI END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Listening to favorite music improves endothelial function in CAD

2013-09-01

Professor Deljanin Ilic said: "In the setting of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease the endothelium loses its normal function.1 Since endothelium derived nitric oxide is necessary to maintain an adequate vascular response, correction of endothelial dysfunction has become a goal of therapy." She added: "Exercise training has been shown to improve endothelial function and is the cornerstone of a multifaceted programme of cardiovascular rehabilitation. However, little is known about the role of music in cardiovascular rehabilitation or the effects of ...

Physical activity decreases sudden cardiac death risk in unfit men

2013-09-01

Dr Laukkanen said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for approximately 50% of deaths from coronary heart disease. SCD typically occurs shortly after the onset of symptoms, leaving little time for effective medical interventions, and most cases occur outside hospital with few or no early warning signs. Finding ways to identify individuals at elevated risk of SCD would allow early interventions on risk factors to be implemented." The current study investigated the impact of high leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) combined with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on risk ...

Cold weather produces more heart attacks

2013-09-01

Professor Claeys said: "Air pollution and temperature changes are the most frequently reported environmental triggers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Epidemiologic studies have focused mainly on one environmental condition, but most environmental triggers are related to each other and may attenuate or reinforce the triggering effect of a single environmental factor." He added: "Better knowledge of the impact of environment on AMI will help medical care providers and policy makers to optimise prevention strategies for a target risk population." The present study ...

Cardiovascular risk factors highest in winter and lowest in summer

2013-09-01

Dr Marques-Vidal said: "Deaths from cardiovascular disease are higher in winter and lower in summer. We decided to conduct a large scale study to see whether cardiovascular risk factors have a seasonal pattern which could explain the seasonality in deaths." The study used cross-sectional data from 10 population based studies in 7 countries. Information was obtained on cardiovascular risk factors in 107,090 subjects aged 35 to 80 years. The country breakdown was as follows: 21,128 subjects in Belgium, 15,664 in Denmark, 1,626 in France, 18,370 in Italy, 25,532 in Norway, ...

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival just 7 percent

2013-09-01

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Sunday 1 September 2013: Survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 7%, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Xavier Jouven and Dr Wulfran Bougouin from France. Professor Jouven said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important public health problem, accounting for more than 400,000 deaths every year. The main cause is ventricular tachyarrhythmias which are often triggered by acute ischaemic events that can occur in persons with or without known heart disease. The survival rate from cardiac arrest has remained ...

Quitting smoking drops heart attack risk to levels of never smokers

2013-09-01

Dr Min said: "Smoking is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Studies have identified that quitting smoking can reduce heart attacks and death but have not examined the relationship of this salutary effect on the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Our study aimed to find out what impact stopping smoking had on the risk of cardiovascular events, death and the severity of CAD." The prospective CONFIRM (Coronary CT Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter Study) registry of 13,372 patients from 9 countries in Europe, ...

Family history doubles aortic stenosis risk

2013-09-01

Aortic stenosis is the most common heart valve disease in the elderly. It is associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve and previous rheumatic heart disease, but is also often caused by calcification of a normal valve. Calcification of a normal valve may be associated with atherosclerotic changes in the portion of the aorta closest to the valve. Dr Ranthe said: "Genetic factors may play a role in the development of aortic stenosis. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the lipoprotein(a) locus has been associated with aortic valve calcification and aortic stenosis.1 ...

Pre-treatment with prasugrel -- more risk, no benefit: ACCOAST

2013-09-01

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – In patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE- ACS), pre-treatment with the P2Y12 antagonist prasugrel prior to catheterization, significantly increases the risk of life-threatening bleeding without reducing the risk of major ischemic events, according to the results of the ACCOAST (A Comparison of Prasugrel at PCI or Time of Diagnosis of Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) trial. The findings point to a "paradigm shift" away from pre-treatment in such patients which will not only be "hard to believe and destabilizing ...

Preventive PCI results in better outcomes than culprit artery PCI alone in ST elevation MI

2013-09-01

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – Heart attack patients with ST elevation who undergo a preventive procedure to unblock additional coronary arteries have significantly better outcomes than those whose treatment is confined to the culprit blockage only, according to the results of the Preventive Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (PRAMI) Trial. The findings, presented today at the ESC and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide information that will help guide clinical practice and resolve uncertainty over how to approach percutaneous coronary ...

A shorter interruption of anti-thrombotics does not influence peri-operative complications

2013-09-01

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – A shortened pre-surgical interruption of anti-thrombotic therapy, compared to the more traditional one-week interruption, has no influence on perioperative complications in cardiac patients, according to the results of the PRAGUE 14 trial. "Thus, there is no evidence to support changing the traditional approach of interrupting antithrombotic therapy one week before surgery," said lead investigator Petr Widimsky, MD., DrSc., from the Cardiocenter of Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. The results shed light on a persistent dilemma ...

Big belly increases death risk in heart attack survivors

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: