Overweight teens are more likely to develop cardiomyopathy in adulthood, a heart muscle condition that can cause heart failure
A new study found that those who were even mildly overweight around age 18 were more likely develop cardiomyopathy and heart failure in adulthood. This is an uncommon heart muscle condition that can cause heart failure, according to findings published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
The study examined data on height, weight and overall fitness from a Swedish registry of 1,668,893 men who enlisted in compulsory military service between 1969 and 2005, when the men were 18 or 19. They were followed up to 46 years to track the causes of all hospitalizations and deaths in Sweden.
“We were interested in studying cardiomyopathies, because heart failure caused by this historically uncommon disorder doubled in Sweden between 1987 and 2006,” said Annika Rosengren, M.D., Ph.D. study co-author, professor of medicine at the University of Gothenburg and cardiologist at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the study, men who had a BMI of 35 and over in their youth were eight times more likely to develop dilated cardiomyopathy as adults compared to men who were lean in their youth
Among the men in the study, 4,477 were diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at an average age of 45.5 years. The men who were lean at age 18 – with a body mass index (BMI – measure of body weight) below 20 – had a low risk of cardiomyopathy. However, that risk steadily increased as weight increased, even among men on the high end of a normal BMI (22.5-25).
There are several types of cardiomyopathy. In one form, called dilated cardiomyopathy, the heart muscle becomes weak and can’t pump blood efficiently. In another, called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the heart muscle becomes stiff and isn’t able to fill with blood properly. Cardiomyopathy can reduce heart function and lead to heart failure, which means the heart is not able to pump blood properly.
In the study, men who had a BMI of 35 and over in their youth were eight times more likely to develop dilated cardiomyopathy as adults compared to men who were lean in their youth. Risk for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in men with BMI 35 and above could not be assessed as there were too few cases to provide a meaningful analysis.
Researchers expect the results of this study to apply to men throughout the world, although additional studies would need to be conducted to see if there are racial or ethnic differences in how body weight in adolescence influences the development of cardiomyopathy later in life.
The findings may or may not translate to women as data on women’s weight at around age 18 was not available to the researchers.
