Healthy Overweight Individuals Still at Increased Risk of Heart Disease

While some findings may suggest that overweight or obese individuals can be considered relatively healthy, researchers believe that an overweight person simply being overweight is enough to dramatically increase his or her risk of heart disease.

For the study, researchers Borge G. Nordestgaard, M.D., D. M.Sc., and Mette Thomsen, M.D., from Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, examined medical data that included a four-year follow-up which allowed the researchers to examine data on 71,527 people who were a part of the general population study. This data includes a four-year follow-up that allows researchers to identify 634 cases of myocardial infarction (MI) also known as a heart attack and 1,781 cases of ischemic heart disease (IHD).

The researchers found that when they compared the cases with people of normal weight that obesity did increase the risk of MI and IHD. The team also shows that weight increases MI regardless of any metabolic syndrome differences between overweight and obese people. Metabolic syndrome is a condition that increases blood pressure levels, cholesterol and glucose levels and can greatly increase the risk of an individuals heart attack or chances of heart disease.

"It is being overweight and obesity that are the real causes of heart attack and disease," Nordestgaard said, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. "Thus, you don't need to examine for the metabolic syndrome to tell whether a person is at increased risk of heart attack. Just looking at them or measuring their body mass index is sufficient."

More information regarding the study can be found via JAMA Internal Medicine.