According to a research obese heart patients live on average four years less than their slim counterparts.Being seriously overweight also hastens the onset of heart disease by an average of seven years compared to people who stay slim.
It has long been known that obesity is linked to heart disease, but researchers from Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina, have become the first to actually quantify the impact on subsequent life expectancy. The researchers looked at 13 years of detailed data on more than 7000 heart patients.They reported at a meeting of the American Heart Association that the the average age of the overweight patients was 61, and that of the most obese was 57.The researchers, led by Dr. Eric Eisenstein, also calculated the impact of the earlier onset of heart disease on life expectancy of patients with heart problems. They concluded that normal-weight adults had a life expectancy of 78, for overweight people it was 77, and for the most obese 74.
The researchers also found that heavier patients were more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, high blood cholesterol and a family history of heart disease.
