Weight Loss for Heart-Failure Patients may be a Warning Sign

For most, weight loss of any kind is the result of intentional, restrictive dietary habits or an unexpected surprise. However, recent reports show that weight loss for heart failure patients may do more harm than good.

Weight loss is harmful for heart failure patients who have implanted medical devices used to regulate their cardiac rhythm, according to researchers.

A study composed of 994 patients with devices that synchronized the heart's contractions found that even a little weight loss had a significantly greater risk of worsening heart failure, and could even result in death.

The findings suggest that doctors should more closely monitor heart patients' weight, according to researcher Valentina Kutyifa. The information was recently presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in San Francisco.

The risk of worsening heart failure or death rose 4 percent with each kilogram, or 2.2 pounds, of weight lost, the study found. In patients with a condition known as left bundle branch block, weight loss doubled the danger.

Heart failure typically requires high energy demand, so heavier patients may have more reserves that help them survive, Kutyifa said.

"Unplanned weight loss might be a warning sign that something bad is going on," said Kutyifa, a research associate at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "All patients who lose weight with implanted devices should have checkups and physicians should monitor them more closely," she said in a telephone interview according to Bloomberg News.

The researchers analyzed findings from the Madit-CRT trial, a study funded by Natick, Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) It is the first to show weight loss may be linked to increased health complications in patients with the devices that provide cardiac resynchronization therapy, Kutyifa said.