Long-Term Obesity Increases Risk of Heart Disease

Startling statistics show that nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight. More than one-third is also obese, making up for approximately 35.7 percent of the U.S. population. Obesity can lead to such health related issues as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and even cancer. However, when excess weight gain occurs and for how long it is carried can have a major impact on how and if certain illnesses will occur. 

According to new study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAM), the longer someone is obese, particularly exhibiting signs of abdominal obesity in young adulthood, is often associated with higher rates of coronary artery calcification, a significant predictor for heart disease.

The study authors believe that preventing or delaying the onset of obesity in young adulthood may lower this risk and help drop crippling obesity rates seen in children within the United States.

"Recent studies have shown that the duration of overall obesity is associated with higher rates of diabetes and mortality independent of the degree of adiposity. However, few studies have determined the cardiovascular consequences of long-term obesity," said study co-author Cora E. Lewis, M.D., professor in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine, via a press release.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that approximately 17 percent of all children and adolescents in the United States are obese. That's triple the rate one generation ago.

Lewis and colleagues looked at calcium build up in the heart arteries of over 3,000 people aged 18 to 30 years starting in 1986, none of whom were obese at the time, according to the study.

To present day, about 40 percent of participants became obese and did not change their dietary or exercise habits. Researchers found that approximately 27 percent of these people also had severe heart disease. Yet the symptoms tended to be worse for those who had been dealing with obesity over a longer period of time.

The study shows that 38 percent of people who were obese for 20 years or longer had calcified arteries while 25 percent of people who weren't obese or hadn't developed severe obesity had hardened arteries.

"We found that each year of overall or abdominal obesity beginning in early adulthood was associated with a 2-4 percent higher risk for coronary artery calcification and its progression later in life," Lewis said, via the release. "Information such as this is critical to understanding the consequences of a greater prevalence and cumulative exposure to excess fatty tissue over a lifetime as a result of the obesity epidemic."

More information regarding the study can be found in the Journal of American Medical Research.