Miscellaneous
Cardiomyopathy of obesity: A clinicopathologic evaluation of 43 obese patients with heart failure

https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9149(92)90739-LGet rights and content

Abstract

Right heart hemodynamic and endomyocardial biopsy abnormalities associated with marked obesity were characterized in 43 obese patients who presented with symptoms of congestive heart failure. Marked obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥35 kg/m2. They were compared to a group of 409 patients with similar presentations but normal body mass. Analysis of the 519 patients showed that body mass index was positively correlated with right heart pressures and cardiac output (p ≤ 0.0001), pulmonary vascular resistance index (p ≤ 0.003) and systolic blood pressure (p ≤ 0.0006). Obese patients had elevated right heart pressures, cardiac output (p ≤ 0.0001) and pulmonary vascular resistance index (p ≤ 0.02) when compared with a group of lean patients with a similar degree of cardiomyopathy. After evaluation, a significantly higher percentage of obese patients were found to have idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy compared with lean patients. A specific etiology was found in 264 (64.5%) of the 409 lean patients compared with 10 (23.3%) of the obese patients (p ≤ 0.0001). The most common finding on endomyocardial biopsy in the obese group was mild myocyte hypertrophy (67%). These data suggest that the cardiomyopathy of obesity exists and may play an important role in a population referred for the evaluation of heart failure.

References (17)

  • JK Alexander

    The cardiomyopathy of obesity

    Prog Cardiovasc Dis

    (1985)
  • AJ Kaltman et al.

    Role of circulatory congestion in the cardiorespiratory failure of obesity

    Am J Med

    (1976)
  • J Manson et al.

    Body weight and longevity

    JAMA

    (1987)
  • T Harris et al.

    Body mass index and mortality among nonsmoking older persons

    JAMA

    (1988)
  • HB Hubert et al.

    Obesity as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease: a 26-year follow-up of participants in the Framingham Heart Study

    Circulation

    (1983)
  • TB Van Itallie

    Health implications of overweight and obesity in the United States

    Am Intern Med

    (1985)
  • KL Smith et al.

    Adiposity of the heart

    Arch Intern Med

    (1933)
  • J Wynne et al.

    The cardiomyopathies and myocarditides

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (132)

View all citing articles on Scopus
1

Dr. Kasper's current address is: Cardiology Division, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232.

View full text