Weight gain in young and middle adulthood key to later heart health | nursing times

Weight gain in young and middle-aged adults is linked to poor heart health during older age, irrespective of weight in later life, according to researchers. People who gain excess weight

from their 20s onwards have less healthy hearts by the time they are in their 60s, according to a study involving UK patient and published in the European Heart Journal. > “This suggests 

weight gain, even at a young age, leads to heart > damage over and above the effects of being overweight in later > life” >  > Alun Hughes Researchers found links between weight

gain in young and middle-aged adults and enlarged hearts that pumped blood less well, which was over and above the effect of being overweight in later years. The findings are based on a

major study that has monitored the health of all the babies born in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in 1946. Lead author Alun Hughes, professor of cardiovascular physiology and

pharmacology at University College London, said: “We know that being overweight is associated with poorer heart health, “But we know little about the long-term relationship between being

overweight over the adult life course and subsequent heart health,” he noted. “We wanted to look at whether being overweight at earlier stages of adult life showed lasting associations with

poorer heart health irrespective of people’s weight in later life.” The researchers examined data on 1,690 people taking part in the Medical Research Council’s National Survey of Health and

Development birth cohort. Throughout their adult lives, these people had their body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio measured, noted Professor Hughes. They were also given

echocardiograms. Researchers said they were particularly interested in a measurement called the left ventricular mass, because when this was higher than expected, it indicated a larger

amount of heart tissue. This, they highlighted, was a reliable indicator of poor heart health and an increased risk of death from heart disease. The data showed that people whose BMI was

elevated at any time from age 20 onwards had higher left ventricular mass in their 60s, even when their BMI during their 60s was taken into account. For example, in an average 43-year-old, a

five-unit higher BMI corresponded with a 15% or 27-gram increase in left ventricular mass. Professor Hughes said: “This suggests that weight gain, even at a young age, leads to heart damage

over and above the effects of being overweight in later life.” “Maintaining a healthy weight is likely to be important for people even in early adulthood and if we want to improve heart

health in the long term, we need to prevent weight gain in people of all ages.” The researchers caution that the study included mostly white European people, so it may not apply to the

global population. Professor Hughes added: “This type of study cannot prove incontrovertibly that earlier weight gain causes heart damage, only that the two are closely linked. “If being

overweight has effects on the heart that are irreversible or only partially reversible then we might expect to see heart damage that accumulates and worsens throughout life,” he said. The

researchers will now study the role of diabetes and high blood glucose in explaining the link between weigh gain and heart health. In addition, they said they planned to study weight gain in

childhood and adolescence in relation to heart health. RELATED ARTICLES