(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Overweight people who think they can eliminate their risk
for heart disease just by treating high blood pressure and high cholesterol
levels with drugs might do well to think again.
A new study reveals a higher risk for heart conditions even in overweight and
obese people who don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, leading
investigators to conclude treating these conditions can't completely make up for
the extra pounds.
The study is based on a review of 21 previous studies involving more than
300,000 people. After adjusting the findings to take factors like age, sex,
physical activity and smoking into account, overweight people had a 32-percent
increased risk of heart disease when compared to people with normal weights.
People classified as obese had an 81-percent higher risk.
Noting high blood pressure and high cholesterol are two key risk factors for
heart disease, the researchers then adjusted the findings further to take those
two conditions into account. While overweight and obese people without these
conditions were less likely to have heart disease than those with them, they
were still significantly more likely to have heart problems than normal weight
people -- 17-percent more likely for overweight people and 49-percent more
likely for obese people.
Overall, the risk for heart problems went up by 29 percent for each five
additional units of body mass index before adjusting for high blood pressure and
high cholesterol and 16 percent after.
The authors note nearly two-thirds of Americans are now classified as
overweight, and the problem is growing worldwide.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007;167:1720-1728
