It is widely known and accepted that people who are obese are at greater risk of poor heart health.
But, a new study has reinforced the importance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout life.
Scientists warn those women who are obese in early adulthood are at increased risk of suffering sudden cardiac death later in life, even if they have shed their excess weight.
Dr Stephanie Chiuve, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study, said: 'We found that it is important to maintain a healthy weight throughout adulthood as a way to mimimise the risk of sudden cardiac death.'
'Excess weight or substantial weight gain may have an early or cumulative impact on the risk of sudden cardiac death that is not completely erased by weight loss later in life.'
Women who were obese in early adulthood are at greater risk of suffering sudden cardiac death later in life, even if they have lost their excess weight in the intervening years, experts have warned
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Women who were obese in early adulthood are at greater risk of suffering sudden cardiac death later in life, even if they have lost their excess weight in the intervening years, experts have warned
Researchers analysed data from the Nurses' health study, and followed 72,484 healthy women from 1980 to 2012.
Participants provided information about their height and weight at the start of the study, as they remembered it at 18 and, through questionnaires every two years during the study.
Researchers were then able to examine the relation between body mass index (BMI) and weight gain and the risk of suffering sudden cardiac death, death from coronary heart disease and non-fatal heart attacks.
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Over the 32-year period, researchers documented 445 cases of sudden cardiac death, 1,286 cases of fatal coronary heart disease and 2,272 non-fatal heart attacks.
BMI is a person's weight in relation to their height, and it is used to screen for people who are overweight or obese.
Sudden cardiac death is a sudden, unexpected death usually triggered by a lethal chaotic cardiac rhythm, which results in a loss of heart function.
In women, the sudden death is often the first manifestation of heart disease.
Sudden cardiac death is a sudden, unexpected death usually triggered by a lethal chaotic cardiac rhythm, which results in a loss of heart function
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Sudden cardiac death is a sudden, unexpected death usually triggered by a lethal chaotic cardiac rhythm, which results in a loss of heart function
Women with a higher BMI during adulthood had a greater risk of sudden cardiac death, Dr Chiuve's team found.
Women who were overweight, with a BMI of 25 to 30, and obese, a BMI of 30 or greater, were 1.5 times and two times respectively, more likely to experience sudden cardiac death in the next two years, when compared with women with a healthy BMI.
Women who were overweight or obese at the start of the study, or obese at age 18, had an elevated risk of sudden cardiac death over the entire course of the study.
The scientists found weight gain in early-to-mid adulthood was linked to a greater risk of sudden cardiac death regardless of BMI at age 18.
The risk of sudden cardiac death was twice as high in women who gained 44 pounds or more during early to mid-adulthood.
Dr Chiuve said: 'Nearly three-quarters of all sudden cardiac deaths occur in patients not considered to be high-risk based on current guidelines.
'We must seek broader prevention strategies to reduce the burden of sudden cardiac death in the general population.'
Women with higher BMI had a greater risk of fatal coronary heart disease, and non-fatal heart attacks, though the link was weaker compared with sudden cardiac death.
David Wilber, editor-in-chief of JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology, which published the study, said: 'This study adds to a growing body of evidence that the adverse effects of obesity on cardiac rhythm, in this case, sudden death risk, begin in early adulthood.
'It underscores the need for earlier identification and treatment of high risk individuals.'
Observational studies such as this one cannot determine cause and effect, and factors not measured could impact the results, though this study controlled for numerous clinical and lifestyle factors.
The Nurses' Health Study includes a population of educated, primarily white women and may not apply to other ethnic groups. All studies with self-reported measures have some degree of error, the researchers note.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3334260/If-obese-18-increases-risk-sudden-cardiac-death-later-life-lose-weight.html#ixzz3saxXo9HS
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