World Book and News -- Carrying around too much weight appears to be associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction among older individuals, independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, researchers found. After accounting for age, sex, left ventricular mass, hypertension, diabetes, and heart rate, obese individuals (BMI =30) had an increased likelihood of diastolic dysfunction compared with their normal-weight counterparts (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.41), according to Marco Di Tullio, MD, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.
