50 AND ABOVE

Obesity tied to early heart attack

Heart attacks occur earlier in people who are overweight or obese, compared to normal-weight people, states a new research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The average age at first heart attack was 74.6 years in the leanest patients and 58.7 years in the most obese. Women were predominant in both the groups, the investigators found. The researchers determined that compared to study subjects with a normal body mass index — BMI between 18.6 and 25.0 — subjects who were overweight — BMI between 25.1 and 30.0 — had a first heart attack some 3.5 years earlier. Obese individuals — BMI between 30.1 and 35.0 — had a first heart attack 6.8 years earlier than normal-weight subjects and for severely obese individuals — BMI greater than 40 — it was 12.0 years.