Impact of Body Mass Index on Left Ventricular Function

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Obesity Research
• Echocardiography

Background:

• Obesity is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
• The direct impact of obesity on cardiac function requires further elucidation.
• This study investigates the relationship between isolated obesity and left ventricular function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the direct effect of varying grades of obesity on echocardiographic indices.
• To assess systolic and diastolic left ventricular function in obese individuals.
• To correlate body mass index (BMI) with cardiac function parameters.

Main Methods:

• Echocardiographic assessment of systolic and diastolic function in 51 obese and 25 normal-weight individuals.
• Classification into normal weight (BMI <25kg/m²), overweight (BMI 25-29.9 kg/m²), and obese (BMI >30 kg/m²) groups.
• Dysfunction defined as ≥ 2 SD deviation from normal weight group values.

Main Results:

• Increased ejection fraction and fractional shortening in overweight and obese groups.
• Enlarged left ventricular dimensions without changes in relative wall thickness.
• Prevalence of subclinical diastolic dysfunction in obese subjects, correlating with BMI.
• No systolic dysfunction observed; diastolic dysfunction noted in all obesity grades.

Conclusions:

• Subclinical left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is present across all obesity grades.
• Diastolic dysfunction in obesity is directly correlated with body mass index (BMI).
• Obesity, even without other comorbidities, impacts diastolic cardiac function.