Abstract 2936: Obesity and Mortality in Patients with Heart Failure and Preserved Systolic Function
Several large cohort studies document better survival in heart failure patients with decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) and higher body mass index (BMI) compared to those with a lower BMI. It is unclear, though, if this “obesity paradox” applies to heart failure patients with preserved EF or if it extends to the very obese (BMI>35). We followed 1,235 consecutive patients with a prior diagnosis of heart failure and a preserved EF (≥50%) documented on echocardiography at one of three laboratories. We determined adjusted mortality and readmission rates at 1 year following the echocardiogram. Obesity (BMI>30) was noted in 542 patients (44%). The mean age of the cohort was 71 years, but this varied depending on BMI (73 years for BMI<25, 64 years for BMI> 35, p< 0.001). In a subset of patients with complete diastolic indices and LV mass measurements (n=405), 95% had objective evidence of diastolic dysfunction. Age-adjusted all-cause mortality (Figure ) at one year decreased with increasing BMI (31% if BMI < 25, 22% if BMI 25–29, 20% if BMI 30–35 and 19% if BMI>35, p=0.003). In a proportional hazards analysis that adjusted for patient history, demographics and laboratory values, the hazard ratios for total mortality (relative to a normal BMI) were 1.47 (95% CI, 1.06–2.05) for BMI<25, 0.95 (95% CI, 0.64 –1.42) for BMI 30 –35, and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.52–1.31), for BMI >35, p=0.046). Similar findings were noted for the composite endpoint of survival free from heart failure hospitalization. These data suggest that the obesity paradox applies to heart failure patients with preserved systolic function and extends to very obese patients (BMI>35).