title: Update on Obesity and Obesity Paradox in Heart Failure.
abstract: Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in most of the Westernized world. Overweightness and obesity adversely impact cardiac structure and function, including on both the right and, especially, left sides of the heart, with adverse affects on systolic and, especially, diastolic ventricular function. Therefore, it is not surprising that obesity markedly increases the prevalence of heart failure (HF). Nevertheless, many studies have documented an obesity paradox in large cohorts with HF, where overweight and obese have a better prognosis, at least in the short-term, compared with lean HF patients. Although weight loss clearly improves cardiac structure and function and reduces symptoms in HF, there are no large studies on the impact of weight loss on clinical events in HF, preventing definitive guidelines on optimal body composition in patients with HF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School-University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA. Electronic address: clavie@ochsner.org.
authors.forename: Carl J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lavie
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO.
authors.forename: Martin A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Alpert
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School-University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: Alban
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Schutter
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Mayo College of Medicine, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Jimenez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School-University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: Richard V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Milani
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School-University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
authors.forename: Hector O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Ventura
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications*; D050177:Overweight / Q000150:complications; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Fitness; Heart failure; Obesity