Research
Adherence
The 'obesity paradox' in heart failure—where overweight/obese patients have better short-term outcomes than normal-weight patients—is likely confounded by unintentional weight loss from underlying diseases (like cancer) and lead-time bias, rather than being a true protective effect of obesity.
Do not rely on the 'obesity paradox' to avoid weight management. The idea that being overweight helps heart failure is likely a statistical error caused by sick people losing weight unintentionally. Intentional weight loss is associated with better clinical outcomes.
GoodRefutesMEDIUM confidence
most studies on the subject were retrospective and observational, with limited to no differentiation between intentional and unintentional weight loss. Unintentional weight loss may reflect undiagnosed disease such as cancer and act as a significant confounder... the obesity paradox could be due to the potential confounding effect of lead time bias
Why this rating
Based on expert panel interpretation of retrospective and observational studies.
Source
A Saudi Heart Association Position Statement on Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease
Waleed AlHabeeb et al. · Journal of the Saudi Heart Association · 2024
clinical_guidelineCited 2×
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