Maintaining metabolic health critical for preventing HF in metabolically healthy obese

China: Metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype is dynamic and its change to metabolically healthy phenotype or stable MHO is linked to an increased risk of heart failure, states a recent study. The findings of the study, published in the journal Diabetes & Metabolism, suggest that maintaining metabolic health may be a clue for HF prevention. 

 There is limited evidence on the effects of MHO status on heart failure and ignores the dynamic changes of obesity phenotypes and metabolic health. To fill this knowledge gap, Shouling Wu, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan City, China, and colleagues aimed to examine the associations of metabolic health and its transition with HF across the categories of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in a prospective cohort study. 

The study consisted of 93,288 Chinese adults who were free of cardiovascular disease, cancer, or HF at baseline (2006–2007). Metabolic health was defined as having no or only one abnormality in glucose, blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or triglyceride levels. The subjects were cross-classified at baseline by metabolic health and obesity (defined by BMI and WC criteria). The researchers considered the transitions in metabolic health status from 2006 to 2007 to 2010 to 2011.