Being Overweight Tied to Changes Young Adults’ Heart Structure, Function

Article Source: Reuters Health Even in early adulthood, being overweight is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart muscle damage that may set the stage for cardiovascular diseases later in life, a UK study suggests. Most previous research on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight adjusted for height – and cardiovascular events like heart attacks has focused on older adults Researchers looked the relationship between BMI and routinely collected cardiovascular data, such as blood pressure and heart rate, in more than 3000 17-year-olds born in the 1990s. They also examined cardiovascular scans from 400 21-year-olds who were at higher genetic risk for an unhealthy BMI. “Our results suggested that having a higher BMI likely causes higher blood pressure,” said lead study author Kaitlin Wade of the University of Bristol in