Interaction between body mass index and physical fitness in primary heart failure prevention

Heart failure affects more than 40 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of hospitalisation and mortality.1 The aetiology of heart failure is often multifactorial and is influenced by both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular risk factors.1 Although the prevalence of these risk factors vary according to sex, age, ethnicity, presence of comorbidities and environmental factors, the majority of cases remain preventable.1 In their Heart paper, Crump and colleagues2 provide insights into the aetiologic pathways for heart failure as they examine the interplay between body mass index (BMI) and different aspects of physical fitness on the risk of heart failure. Improvements in medical management of risk factors have stabilised the incidence of heart failure, which in some countries now are even declining.1 3 Nonetheless, due to the ageing of the population and improved survival rates among patients with heart failure,3...
Source: Heart - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research