Risk for recurrent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease increased after myocardial infarction
THURSDAY, Jan. 23, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Abdominal obesity is associated with an increased risk for recurrent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease after myocardial infarction, according to a study published online Jan. 20 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Hanieh Mohammadi, M.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined the prevalence of abdominal obesity and its correlation with recurrent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in a cohort of 22,882 patients followed after their first myocardial infarction.
The researchers found that most patients had abdominal obesity. Overall, 7.3 percent of men and 7.9 percent of women experienced a recurrent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease event during a median follow-up of 3.8 years. In a univariate analysis, elevated risk was seen in the fifth versus the first quintile (hazard ratio, 1.22). Elevated risk was seen in the fourth and fifth quintiles in a multivariable-adjusted analysis (hazard ratios, 1.21 and 1.25, respectively). Similar associations were seen in men in gender-stratified analyses, while in women and in body mass index analyses, the correlations were U-shaped.
“Mohammadi et al. showed an independent association between increased waist circumference and cardiovascular events after myocardial infarction, adding waist circumference to the long list of prognosticators after an acute coronary syndrome,” write the authors of an accompanying editorial. “Perhaps more importantly, these findings underline the importance of this easily recognizable yet frequently overlooked risk marker.”
One author disclosed financial ties to a weight loss company.
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