A joint research team at Seoul National University Hospital announces the results of analysis of a cohort of 1.5 million diabetic patients
Increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death if you gain or lose more than 5% of weight in 2 years
[시사뉴스 이용만 기자] A new perspective has been presented to the clinic that recommended weight loss for diabetic patients. Diabetes patients who gain or lose more than 5% of their body weight are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, a study has found.
A cohort analysis of the association between weight change and cardiovascular disease among 1,522,241 diabetic patients who underwent comprehensive health checkups twice between 2009 and 2012 by Professor Hyung-Kwan Kim’s team at Seoul National University Hospital (former doctor Park Chan-soon) and Professor Han Kyung-do’s team from Soongsil University The results were announced on the 7th.
According to the latest data from the Korean Diabetes Association, the prevalence of diabetes in Korea is 13.8%. About 1 in 7 adults over the age of 30 are diabetic. Compared to the general population, they are more prone to cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke, and have a higher mortality rate.
In particular, obesity can increase blood cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure, which are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Therefore, under the existing medical guidelines, weight loss was recommended for obese diabetic patients.
However, it has not been proven to what extent weight loss is appropriate or whether weight loss actually helps prevent cardiovascular disease. Therefore, it was necessary to study the effect of weight gain and loss on the prognosis of diabetes in patients.
The research team measured the weight change of 1,522,241 diabetic patients using the data from the National Health Insurance Corporation and measured the weight change of patients with ▲10% or more weight ▲5%~10% weight loss ▲Stable weight (less than 5% increase or decrease) ▲5%~10% body weight Increase ▲ Weight gain of 10% or more was classified as a group. After regarding 7 years, the occurrence of myocardial infarction, stroke, atrial fibrillation, heart failure and death was followed up.
As a result, compared to the stable weight group, the 5% or more weight loss group had a higher annual cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality rate.
Also, compared to the 5%~10% weight loss group, the 10% or more weight gain group showed a greater increase in annual cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality rate.
In other words, there was a U-shaped correlation that the risk of cardiovascular disease and death increased as the patient’s weight increased or decreased.
On the other hand, this correlation was consistently found in underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese patients regardless of the degree of obesity in diabetic patients. In other words, it was confirmed that the degree of weight change was more significantly involved in the occurrence of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients than the degree of obesity.
Professor Kim Hyung-kwan of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital said, “This study is significant in that it reveals that both rapid weight gain and loss of diabetic patients increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, contrary to existing guidelines.”
He continued, “We should not consider weight loss in obese diabetic patients unconditionally positive. There is a need,” he added.
Meanwhile, this study was published online on the 9th of last month in ‘Diabetes Care (IF 19.112)’, the most prestigious medical journal in the field of endocrine metabolism.