Waist-to-Height Ratio & Heart Failure Risk
- The ratio of waist-to-height is a strong predictor of heart failure incidence, according to research presented at Heart Failure 2025, a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) scientific congress.
- While obesity is a known risk factor for heart failure (HF), body mass index (BMI) has limitations.
- The study tracked 1,792 participants from the Malmö Preventive Project, aged 45 to 73, with varying blood glucose levels, for a median of 12.6 years.
Uncover a critical new link: your waist-to-height ratio (primary_keyword) could be a more potent indicator of heart failure risk than BMI. News Directory 3 is reporting on a recent study that followed nearly 1,800 participants for over a decade, revealing startling insights. The research demonstrates that a higher waist-to-height ratio significantly elevates the risk of developing heart failure (secondary_keyword). Experts suggest that maintaining a waist measurement less than half your height is ideal. This simple measurement might just be a game-changer in assessing your cardiovascular health. Discover what’s next as researchers delve deeper into this crucial connection.
Waist-to-Height Ratio: Key predictor of Heart Failure risk
Updated June 05, 2025
The ratio of waist-to-height is a strong predictor of heart failure incidence, according to research presented at Heart Failure 2025, a European Society of Cardiology (ESC) scientific congress.
While obesity is a known risk factor for heart failure (HF), body mass index (BMI) has limitations. Dr. Amra jujic of Lund University in Sweden, who presented the study, noted that BMI doesn’t account for body fat distribution and is influenced by factors like sex and ethnicity. The waist-to-height ratio (WtHR),though,offers a more accurate measure of central adiposity,the dangerous accumulation of fat around visceral organs. This makes it a better tool for identifying those at risk of heart failure and the need for obesity therapies.
The study tracked 1,792 participants from the Malmö Preventive Project, aged 45 to 73, with varying blood glucose levels, for a median of 12.6 years. During this period, 132 heart failure events occured.
The results showed a critically important association between higher WtHR and increased heart failure risk. Specifically,a one standard deviation increase in WtHR raised the hazard ratio for heart failure by 1.34. Individuals in the highest quartile of WtHR (median 0.65) faced a 2.71 times greater risk of heart failure compared to those in the lower quartiles.
Dr. John Molvin, also from Lund University, pointed out that the median WtHR in the study was higher than the 0.5 cut-off for increased cardiometabolic risk. He emphasized that an ideal waist measurement should be less than half of one’s height. The study suggests that waist-to-height ratio may be a better metric than BMI to identify patients with HF who could benefit from therapies for obesity.
We found that WtHR was a significant predictor of incident HF and our results suggest that WtHR may be a better metric than BMI to identify patients with HF who could benefit from therapies for obesity,” said Dr. Molvin.
What’s next
Researchers plan to investigate whether waist-to-height ratio predicts heart failure and other cardiometabolic disorders in a larger population.