Obesity in Childhood May Alter Heart's Structure

Newswise — Adults in their 20s and 30s who were obese as children are more likely to have hearts with enlarged left ventricles, say Tulane University researchers. Such an enlargement is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of adults in the United States and around the world.

"The more obese a child is, the more enlarged the heart becomes 21 years later," says Shengxu Li, co-author of the study which appears in the November issue of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. "Simply being obese means your heart has to work harder, even in childhood. The added burden of high blood pressure, which is commonly associated with obesity, and other related health problems can actually contribute to a change in the structure of the heart."

Li and his team analyzed data from 467 participants between the ages of 20 and 38 in the Bogalusa Heart Study who had been screened for height, weight and heart health risk factors at least twice before, starting in childhood. The participants were all screened with an echocardiograph, which measures the size and action of the heart, during a screening in 1995-96.

Li and colleagues also found a correlation between high systolic blood pressure in adulthood and increased mass in the left ventricle of the heart.

"The enlargement of the left ventricle can be stopped and even reversed with appropriate interventions," Li says. "Our research indicates a need to take obesity in children seriously and begin preventing and reducing weight gain early in life."

The Bogalusa Heart Study is the longest-running, biracial, community-based study of heart disease risk factors beginning in childhood in the world. Since its inception in 1973, cardiologist Gerald Berenson and his staff have screened over 16,000 adults and children in the Bogalusa area in an effort to understand heart disease risk factors over the lifespan. Children who began the study in the 1970s while they were in elementary school are now adults who continue to participate in the screening process. Moving from a pediatric study, the investigators now are studying aging. Funding for the research comes from the National Institutes on Aging and Heart, Lung and Blood in Bethesda, Md.