title: The obesity paradox is not observed in chronic heart failure patients with metabolic syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although being overweight or obese is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, obese subjects often live longer than their lean peers, and this is known as the obesity paradox. We investigated the impact of obesity on cardiac prognosis in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, with or without metabolic syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  We divided 374 consecutive CHF patients into two groups according to their mean body mass index (BMI) and prospectively followed them for 2 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 126 cardiac events, including 32 cardiac deaths and 94 re-hospitalizations. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a significantly lower cardiac event rate in the higher BMI group (log-rank test P < 0.001) in all patients and those patients without metabolic syndrome. There was no association between BMI and cardiac prognosis in patients with metabolic syndrome. Cox hazard analysis revealed that a higher BMI was associated with favorable cardiac outcomes in all patients and patients without metabolic syndrome, after adjusting for confounding factors. However, this finding did not extend to patients with metabolic syndrome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The advantages of obesity are not found in CHF patients with metabolic syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Narumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinpei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kadowaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Otaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishiyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shishido
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology, Yamagata University School of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kubota
keywords: chronic heart failure; metabolic syndrome; obesity paradox; prognosis