Obesity is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but people’s weight can shift over time and little is known about the cumulative effect of excess weight. New research from researchers at Mass General Brigham shows that long-term exposure to excess weight is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular risk than body mass index (BMI) at a particular point in time, with a stronger effect in younger people. The results, published in PLoS Onesuggest that losing weight and reducing exposure to excess weight can reduce a person’s cardiovascular risk.
Being overweight at any given time is not a life sentence. What happens to one’s weight over long periods of time matters most for heart health. Our study shows that if a person reduces their weight, their health outcomes can improve.”
Alexander Turchin, MD, MS, of the Division of Endocrinology, Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine
Researchers analyzed data from 136,498 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. All study participants had a baseline BMI greater than 25 kg/m2 and ranged in age from 25 to 69 years for women and 43 to 80 years for men when the study began in 1990. To estimate cumulative exposure to excess BMI over a ten-year period, researchers averaged participants’ BMI measurements between 1990 and 2000. They began tracking an average of participants’ health cards and they continued to be followed for 16.7 years. During this period, 12,048 (8.8%) of the participants experienced a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke.
The team found a strong link between long-term exposure to excess weight and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This effect was stronger for individuals in younger age groups and those with the highest cumulative exposure to overweight. For example, women who were under 35 at baseline had a 60% higher risk of CVD with high cumulative exposure to excess weight, compared with 27% for women aged 35–50 and 23% for men aged 35–65. There was no association for women over 50 or men over 65.
“These findings should give patients and their clinicians an impetus to address excess weight to improve their long-term health,” said Turchin.
