You may want to start working out as a new study has suggested that overweight and obesity early in life increase the risk of cardiac death.
Overweight and obesity throughout adulthood, and especially, elevated weight in early adulthood, were associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death in a 32-year study of more than 72,000 women.
Researchers found that it is important to maintain a healthy weight throughout adulthood as a way to minimize the risk of sudden cardiac death, said lead author Stephanie Chiuve from Harvard Medical School. Excess weight or substantial weight gain may have an early or cumulative impact on the risk of sudden cardiac death that is not completely erased by weight loss later in life, the author said.
Nearly three-quarters of all sudden cardiac deaths occur in patients not considered to be high-risk based on current guidelines. People must seek broader prevention strategies to reduce the burden of sudden cardiac death in the general population, Chiuve said.
Women with a higher BMI had a greater risk of fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal heart attacks, although the association was weaker compared with sudden cardiac death.
