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Postmortem heart weight: relation to body size and effects of cardiovascular disease and cancer
Neena Theresa Kumar1, Knut Liestøl, Else Marit Løberg
1Department of Pathology, Oslo University Hospital-Ullevål, Kirkeveien 166, 0407 Oslo, Norway.
Insights
Human heart weight is affected by cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), body size, gender, and age. Cancer patients had lower heart weight, while CVD patients had higher heart weight compared to controls.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Science
- Oncology
- Forensic Pathology
Background:
- Human heart weight is influenced by gender, body weight, and cardiovascular disease (CVD).
- The impact of cancer and age on heart weight is less understood.
- This study investigates heart weight variations in relation to body size and major diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the relationship between body size and heart weight in a large autopsy cohort.
- To compare heart weight in patients with cancer, CVD, and other diseases.
- To provide nomograms for heart weight based on body weight.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of autopsy reports from 1410 individuals.
- Categorization of deaths into cancer, CVD, mixed, and reference groups.
- Statistical analysis including linear regression adjusted for body weight and age.
Main Results:
- Cancer patients exhibited significantly lower heart weight (men: 392g, women: 309g) compared to the reference group (men: 426g, women: 351g).
- CVD patients showed significantly higher heart weight (men: 550g, women: 430g) than the reference group.
- Heart valve disease had the greatest impact on heart weight among CVD subtypes; absolute heart weight decreased with age, but increased relative to body weight.
Conclusions:
- Heart weight is influenced by disease processes like cancer and CVD, in addition to body weight, gender, and age.
- CVD is associated with increased heart weight, while cancer is linked to lower heart weight, though this is diminished when adjusted for body weight.
Background:
Gender, body weight, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are all variables known to influence human heart weight. The impact of cancer is less studied, and the influence of age is not unequivocal. We aimed to describe the relationship between body size and heart weight in a large autopsy cohort and to compare heart weight in patients with cancer, CVD, and other diseases.
Methods And Results:
Registered information, including cause of death, evidence of cancer and/or CVD, heart weight, body weight, and height, was extracted from the autopsy reports of 1410 persons (805 men, mean age 66.5 years and 605 women, mean age 70.6 years). The study population was divided in four groups according to cause of death; cancer (n=349), CVD (n=470), mixed group who died from cancer and CVD and/or lung disease (n=263), and a reference group with patients who did not die from any of these conditions (n=328). In this last group, heart weight correlated only slightly better with body surface area than body weight, and nomograms based on body weight are presented. Compared to the reference group (mean heart weight: 426 g and 351 g in men and women, respectively), heart weight was significantly lower (men: P<.05, women: P<.001) in cancer patients (men: 392 g, women: 309 g) and higher (P<.001) in patients who died from CVD (men: 550 g, women: 430 g). Similar results were obtained in linear regression models adjusted for body weight and age. Among CVD, heart valve disease had the greatest impact on heart weight, followed by old myocardial infarction, coronary atherosclerosis, and hypertension. Absolute heart weight decreased with age, but we demonstrated an increase relative to body weight.
Conclusion:
The weight of the human heart is influenced by various disease processes, in addition to body weight, gender, and age. While the most prevalent types of CVD are associated with increased heart weight, patients who die from cancer have lower average heart weight than other patient groups. The latter finding, however, is diminished when adjusting for body weight.
Summary:
The present study demonstrates that the weight of the human heart is influenced by various disease processes like cancer and CVD, in addition to body weight, gender and, possibly, age.
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