Lifetime excess weight linked to subclinical heart injury

In a study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine that followed 9,739 adults with stable normal weight, stable overweight, and stable obesity over almost four decades, individuals with stable overweight or obesity had elevated levels of cardiac troponin I, a highly sensitive marker of subclinical heart injury.

The association between weight and cardiac troponin I was present in individuals with and without diabetes.

"The association of obesity with overt cardiac disease is well established, but in this study, we demonstrate that long-standing obesity is injurious to cardiac health even before symptoms occur," said lead author Magnus N. Lyngbakken, MD, Ph.D., of Akershus University Hospital and the University of Oslo, in Norway. "This further underlines the importance of weight control in prevention of serious cardiac conditions such as heart failure."