title: Height, weight and body mass index in adults with congenital heart disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  High BMI is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and, in contrast, low BMI is associated with worse prognosis in heart failure. The knowledge on BMI and the distribution in different BMI-classes in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) are limited.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data on 2424 adult patients was extracted from the Swedish Registry on Congenital Heart Disease and compared to a reference population (n=4605). The prevalence of overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 25) was lower in men with variants of the Fontan procedure, pulmonary atresia (PA)/double outlet right ventricle (DORV) and aortic valve disease (AVD) (Fontan 22.0% and PA/DORV 15.1% vs. 43.0%, p=0.048 and p<0.001) (AVD 37.5% vs. 49.3%, p<0.001). Overt obesity (BMI ≥ 30) was only more common in women with AVD (12.8% vs. 9.0%, p=0.005). Underweight (BMI<18.5) was generally more common in men with CHD (complex lesions 4.9% vs. 0.9%, p<0.001 and simple lesions 3.2% vs. 0.6%, <0.001). Men with complex lesions were shorter than controls in contrast to females that in general did not differ from controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher prevalence of underweight in men with CHD combined with a lower prevalence of overweight/obesity in men with some complex lesions indicates that men with CHD in general has lower BMI compared to controls. In women, only limited differences between those with CHD and the controls were found. The complexity of the CHD had larger impact on height in men. The cause of these gender differences as well as possible significance for prognosis is unknown.
authors.affiliation: Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden; Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy, Umeå University, Sweden. Electronic address: camilla.sandberg@medicin.umu.se.
authors.forename: Camilla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandberg
authors.affiliation: Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rinnström
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dellborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Thilén
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peder
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sörensson
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Niels-Erik
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Christersson
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wadell
authors.affiliation: Heart Centre and Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D001021:Aortic Valve; D000082882:Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000151:congenital*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013851:Thinness / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Adult; Body mass index; Congenital heart disease; Height; Weight