Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: an ESC Clinical Consensus Statement
01 Sep 2024
Yesterday, Professor Konstantinos Koskinas (Bern University Hospital, Inselspital - Bern, Switzerland) and Professor Emeline Van Craenenbroeck (Antwerp University Hospital - Antwerp, Belgium) presented the first ESC Clinical Consensus Statement on obesity and CVD.1
“Obesity currently affects more than a billion individuals worldwide,” says Prof. Koskinas. “Obesity is known to reduce life expectancy, with around two-thirds of obesity-related deaths attributable to CVD. We know that obesity not only contributes to well-established CV risk factors, including type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia and hypertension, but it also has direct adverse effects on cardiac structure and function, and leads to the development of both atherosclerotic and non-atherosclerotic CVD.”
The new clinical consensus statement discusses the complex interplay between obesity, various CV risk factors and CVD manifestations. Although it emphasises the value of long-term maintenance of a healthy body weight in individuals without CVD, management of obesity in patients with established CVD is a main focus of the document. Strategies including lifestyle changes, interventional procedures and anti-obesity medications are discussed, with particular focus on their impact on cardiometabolic risk and cardiac outcomes.
“The recent development of anti-obesity medication with proven CV benefits is a major step forward, but we should avoid relying solely on expensive and difficult-to-obtain pharmacotherapies for established obesity and equally promote preventive measures based on sustainable, healthy lifestyle changes,” explains Prof. Van Craenenbroeck.
The document discusses the critical importance of public health policies beyond individual patient-level interventions. “While the obesity epidemic has evolved over decades, the passivity of European governments is noticeable. We live in an obesogenic environment where factors beyond individual control drive the obesity crisis. Policies must address the fundamental issues and root causes for sustainable solutions,” notes Prof. Van Craenenbroeck.
Read more in the ESC Clinical Consensus Statement, which is now published in the European Heart Journal1 and European Journal of Preventive Cardiology,2 and take part in the discussions on tackling the obesity crisis in a joint session today held with the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.
References
- Koskinas KC, et al. Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: an ESC Clinical Consensus Statement. Eur Heart J. 2024. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehae508.
- Koskinas KC, et al. Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: an ESC Clinical Consensus Statement. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2024. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwae279.
