Physical Changes of the Heart Due to Childhood Obesity May Be Difficult to Reverse, According to New Study
A new study to be presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting in Anaheim on Tuesday Nov. 13 shows that long-term therapy and significant weight reduction may be necessary to reverse changes in the heart caused by childhood obesity.
The study, although containing data on only eight children and adolescents, also demonstrates the significance of obesity prevention efforts.
"This study would indicate that weight loss programs need to strive for greater weight loss or longer duration of therapy," says Tom Kimball, MD, director of echocardiography at Cincinnati Children's and one of the study's authors.
"People tend to set a goal for weight loss, they do it, then they go back to their old habits," adds Sandra Witt, an advanced practice sonographer at Cincinnati Children's and the study's lead author. "What we're looking for is a lifestyle change, not just a temporary quick fix," she says.
The researchers studied eight children between the ages of 9 and 13 who completed a 16-week intervention program at Cincinnati Children's for overweight children and adolescents. Upon completion of the program, their body mass index, a measurement of the relative percentages of fat and muscle mass, had decreased significantly. There were no significant changes, however, in either structural or functional changes in their hearts that were caused by obesity.
The researchers do not believe that changes in the heart caused by obesity are irreversible.
The study is a follow up to two related studies presented during the summer that suggested, for the first time, that obesity in children directly affects structure and function of the heart and may put obese children at increased risk for heart disease.
These studies, also conducted by Dr. Kimball, Ms. Witt, and others at Cincinnati Children's, were presented at the annual American Society of Echocardiography meeting in Seattle.
One of the studies was the first to show that the size of the heart muscle and the left atrium appears to increase in obese children. The size of the atrium, the filling chamber on the upper-left side of the heart, is particularly significant because increasing left atrial size has been linked to a variety of health problems, including irregular heart rhythms and, in older adults, atrial fibrillation and stroke. In addition, the study uncovered significant abnormalities in heart function.
In the second study, the researchers discovered that the pumping action of the hearts of obese children -- the systolic function -- appeared to increase, as did the amount of blood pumped out with each beat. Dr. Kimball attributes these factors to the necessity to send blood to extra fat tissue throughout the body.
In each study, echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart) was performed on 14 children, ranging in age from nine to 15. All had normal blood pressure.
Contact Information
Contact: Jim Feuer (
jfeuer@chmcc.org)
