
When it comes to heart health, body shape matters: A new
study finds that having an apple-shaped body may increase the risk for heart
disease in people with diabetes.
In the study, people who had a higher waist circumference
were more likely to have problems with the left ventricle of their heart, which
is a common cause of heart disease, compared with people with smaller
waists, according to the findings presented today (April 2) at the American
College of Cardiology's annual meeting in Chicago.
"This study confirms that having an apple-shaped body
— or a high waist circumference — can lead to heart disease, and that reducing
your waist size can reduce your risks," Dr. Joseph Muhlestein, the
director of cardiovascular research at Intermountain Medical Center in Utah and
the senior author on the study, said in a statement. [Heart
Disease: Types, Prevention & Treatment]
For this study, researchers used echocardiograms to look at
how well the left ventricle of the heart was functioning in 200 men and women
who had either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The participants in the study didn't
have any symptoms of heart disease, but they were considered "high
risk" for developing the disease based on other factors.
The left ventricle of the
heart is responsible for pumping blood out of the heart to the brain and
the rest of the body. When this ventricle is not working properly, some blood
can back up into the lungs and lower extremities, which can lead to heart
failure and sudden cardiac arrest.
The researchers "specifically found that waist
circumference appears to be a stronger predictor for left-ventricle
dysfunction than total body weight or body mass index," Dr. Boaz Rosen, a
cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the lead author on the
study, said in a statement. This means that, for example, a person with a larger
waist and lower body mass index (BMI) may be more likely to develop heart
disease than is a person with a narrower waist but higher BMI. [8
Reasons Our Waistlines Are Expanding]
The researchers noted that additional studies are needed to
confirm the results. The study did not look at the actual rates at which the
participants developed heart problems.
"It will be important to see if these patients are
indeed at risk of developing [heart problems] in the future," Rosen said.
But this is not the first study to suggest that carrying
more weight around the abdomen may be harmful for your heart. For example,
a 2011 study
of nearly 28,000 men and more than 41,000 women found that a higher waist
circumference was significantly associated with heart-disease risk.