Prevalence of obesity and its association with cardiometabolic risk factors, heart failure phenotype and mortality among patients hospitalized for heart failure in Egypt

Background Obesity is an established risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and heart failure (HF). Nevertheless, the relationship between obesity and HF mortality remains controversial. Results The goal of this study was to describe the prevalence of obesity in patients hospitalized for HF in Egypt and investigate the relationship of obesity to cardiometabolic risk factors, HF phenotype and mortality. Between 2011 and 2014, 1661 patients hospitalized for HF across Egypt were enrolled as part of the European Society of Cardiology HF Long-term Registry. Obese patients, defined by a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 , were compared to non-obese patients. Factors associated with mortality on univariate analysis were entered into a logistic regression model to identify whether obesity was an independent predictor of mortality during hospitalization and at one-year follow-up. The prevalence of obesity was 46.5% and was higher in females compared to males. Obese as compared to non-obese patients had a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (47.0% vs 40.2%, p = 0.031), hypertension (51.3% vs 33.0%, p < 0.001) and history of myocardial infarction (69.2% vs 62.8% p = 0.005). Obese patients as compared to non-obese patient were more likely to have acute coronary syndrome on admission (24.8% vs 14.2%, p < < 0.001). The dominant HF phenotype in obese and non-obese patients was HF with reduced ejection fraction (EF); however, obese patients as compared to non-obese patient had higher prevalence of HF with preserved EF (22.3% vs 12.4%, p < 0.001). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that obesity was associated with an independent survival benefit during hospitalization, (OR for mortality 0.52 [95% CI 0.29–0.92]). Every point increase in BMI was associated with an OR = 0.93 [95% CI 0.89–0.98] for mortality during hospitalization. The survival benefit was not maintained at one-year follow-up. Conclusions Obesity was highly prevalent among the study cohort and was associated with higher prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors as compared to non-obese patients. Obesity was associated with an independent “protective effect” from in-hospital mortality but was not a predictor of mortality at 1-year follow-up.