New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for two out of three deaths of people with a high body mass index (BMI), according to a study.
In fact, this study has come at a time when cases of obesity have more than doubled in the last four decades and at present it is affecting more than one billion people.
“What is noteworthy is that 67.5 percent of deaths related to high body mass index (BMI) were due to cardiovascular disease (CVD),” said Emmeline Van Craenenbroeck, a professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.
Obesity increases the risk of diseases like atherosclerotic disease, heart attack, thromboembolic disease, sudden cardiac arrest, etc.
Despite this link, “obesity has been less recognized and has not received adequate attention compared with other cardiovascular risk factors,” van Craenenbroek said.
Obesity not only contributes to well-established cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and arterial hypertension, but also has a direct adverse effect on cardiac structure and function and causes the development of both atherosclerotic and non-atherosclerotic CVD.
Obesity also has a negative effect on various organs and gives rise to many major diseases.
The study also revealed that diabetes and obesity are closely linked.
80-85 percent of people with diabetes are obese or overweight. On the other hand, obese people are almost three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people with normal weight (20 percent vs. 7.3 percent, respectively).
Obesity is preventable. Treatment for obesity includes medication, diet, behavior, and physical therapy.
These reports will be presented at the ongoing European Cardiology Congress in London (30 August-2 September).
–IANS
AKS/AS
