“Excess fat around the heart, in both men and women, is an evolving risk factor for heart disease. But how can clinicians see it at a regular physical? They can’t without a special heart scan,” said senior author Samar El Khoudary, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health.
In August 2017, a study was published in the Menopause journal that discovered a heart disease risk factor in women that did not require special testing, but was a simple characteristic that a patient could discuss with their doctor: midlife weight gain. Although the location of that weight gain differed between races; it is midlife weight gain in the midsection that can be a fatty heart risk for black women, while for white women the risk is higher when they add weight all over their bodies.
“This study, coupled with our previous study in men, gives doctors another tool to evaluate their patients and get a better sense of their heart disease risk. It also may lead to suggestions for lifestyle modifications to help patients lessen that risk.”
You can learn more about the study and see the source of the quotes above by visiting this article: “Risk of a fatty heart linked to race, type of weight gain in middle-aged women.”
