Will rising BMIs reverse heart attack decline?

UCL Epidemiology & Public Health - UCL Primary Care & Population Health - European Heart Journal - Medical Research Council - British Heart Foundation Better control of cholesterol levels and blood pressure and a decline in smoking have contributed to a 74% drop in the risk of heart attack among nearly 10,000 civil servants working in London over a 20-year period, according to new research from the UCL-led Whitehall II study. However, the researchers, led by Sarah Hardoon (UCL Primary Care & Population Health) and Dr Eric Brunner (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health), stress that this reduction would have been even greater were it not for the fact that more people became fatter during this time, and this rise in body mass index (BMI) accounted for an estimated 11% increased risk of heart attack over the same period. Commenting on the research, Dr Brunner said: 'Our study confirms the great success there has been in beating heart disease in England over the past 20 years. The blot on the landscape is the epidemic of overweight and obesity, which stands in the way of a continued decline in the heart attack rate. A quarter of English adults are obese. Two thirds of men and well over half of women are overweight or obese. The public health community and NHS have done well, but now we need to find effective ways to reverse the obesity trend.' The paper, published online today in the European Heart Journal, reports that among 9453 people taking part in the study there was a substantial reduction (74%) in the chances of a first heart attack (myocardial infarction) among both men and women between 1985 and 2004.