Obesity is associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death, sharing common traditional cardiovascular risk factors and structural, functional, and metabolic modulators.
This review highlights the structural, functional, and metabolic mechanisms by which obesity increases the risk of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death.
For individuals and the society as a whole, the increased risk of sudden cardiac death in obese patients is becoming a major challenge, especially since obesity prevalence has been increasing steadily around the globe. Traditional risk factors and obesity often coexist. Hypertension, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea and metabolic syndrome are well-known risk factors for CV disease and are often present in the obese patient. Although the bulk of evidence is circumstantial, sudden cardiac death and obesity share common traditional CV risk factors. Structural, functional and metabolic factors modulate and influence the risk of sudden cardiac death in the obese population. Other risk factors such as left ventricular hypertrophy, increased number of premature ventricular complexes, altered QT interval and reduced heart rate variability are all documented in both obese and sudden cardiac death populations. The present review focuses on out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death and potential mechanisms leading to sudden cardiac death in this population.
Plourde et al. (Tue,) conducted a review in Sudden cardiac death and obesity. Obesity was evaluated on Sudden cardiac death. Obesity is associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death, sharing common traditional cardiovascular risk factors and structural, functional, and metabolic modulators.