Prevalence of Baseline Cardiac Arrhythmias in Participants with Overweight or Obesity in Phase 1 Clinical Trials: Analysis of 24-Hour Holter Electrocardiogram Recordings.

Although estimates of the prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias in healthy volunteers exist, there is a lack of baseline data in other specific populations, such as people living with overweight and obesity, who are increasingly involved in clinical trials. This study investigated the baseline prevalence of arrhythmias in participants with overweight or obesity in 2 phase 1 trials of weight management medications (NCT03661879, NCT03308721). Participants aged 18-55 years, without a history of cardiovascular disease, and with body mass index (BMI) of 25.

Weight loss interventions and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Optimizing liver outcomes.

The growth in prevalence of obesity, type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become one of the most important global health challenges. The three chronic diseases are closely linked in their epidemiology and pathophysiology. Currently, weight loss is the most effective treatment for NAFLD (even in the minority of patients with NAFLD who do not have obesity) and is recommended in all national and international guidelines.

Future directions in obesity pharmacotherapy.

There is a growing unmet need for more effective treatment of obesity and its complications. While current anti-obesity medications are effective and offer real clinical benefits over diet and lifestyle interventions, they cannot meet the levels of efficacy and reduction of hard endpoint outcomes seen with bariatric surgery. As knowledge on the control of body weight unravels, the complexity of this physiology opens the opportunity to new druggable targets.

Body mass index trajectories among people with obesity and association with mortality: Evidence from a large Israeli database.

Objective: Previous studies using longitudinal weight data to characterize obesity are based on populations of limited size and mostly include individuals of all body mass index (BMI) levels, without focusing on weight changes among people with obesity. This study aimed to identify BMI trajectories over 5 years in a large population with obesity, and to determine the trajectories' association with mortality.

Methods: For inclusion, individuals aged 30-74 years at index date (1 January 2013) with continuous membership in Clalit Health Services from 2008 to 2012 were required to have ≥1 BMI measurement per year in ≥3 calendar years during this period, of which at least one was ≥30 kg/m.

A comprehensive descriptive assessment of obesity related chronic morbidity and estimated annual cost burden from a population-based electronic health record database.

Background: The growing prevalence of obesity and its complications pose a huge burden on the individual and health care systems worldwide. This study presents the frequency of multiple prevalent co-morbidities and estimated annual cost burden by body mass index (BMI) groups, age, and sex among the Israeli adult population to provide policy makers with further evidence to appropriately target interventions.

Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized population-based electronic medical records from the largest payer-provider health fund in Israel.

Association between fat mass through adolescence and arterial stiffness: a population-based study from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.

Background: The link between adiposity, metabolic abnormalities, and arterial disease progression in children and adolescents remains poorly defined. We aimed to assess whether persistent high adiposity levels are associated with increased arterial stiffness in adolescence and any mediation effects by common metabolic risk factors.

Methods: We included participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) who had detailed adiposity measurements between the ages 9-17 years and arterial stiffness (carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity [PWV]) measured at age 17 years.

The effects of Ramadan fasting on activity and energy expenditure.

Background: Fasting during the month of Ramadan entails abstinence from eating and drinking between dawn and sunset and a major shift in meal times and patterns with associated changes in several hormones and circadian rhythms; whether there are accompanying changes in energy metabolism is unclear.

Objective: We have investigated the impact of Ramadan fasting on resting metabolic rate (RMR), activity, and total energy expenditure (TEE).

Design: Healthy nonobese volunteers (n = 29; 16 women) fasting during Ramadan were recruited.

Relation between weight loss and causes of death in patients with cardiovascular disease: finding from the SCOUT trial.

Aims: Obesity is associated with an increased incidence of mortality. The Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes (SCOUT) trial can provide the first evidence of the effect of intentional weight loss on mortality in an obese population at high risk.

Methods: SCOUT was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial testing sibutramine vs.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions that cause weight loss and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Background: Overweight/obesity is associated with significant morbidity, mortality and costs. Weight loss has been shown to reverse some of these effects, reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Aim: To determine the potential monies available, from an English National Health Service perspective, for weight loss interventions to be cost-effective in the prevention of CVD.

Obesity Management in Europe: Current Status and Objectives for the Future.

Objective: This study aims at assessing the status of obesity management in the European region and identifying future goals and objectives of professionals working in the field of obesity.

Methods: Presidents of all 31 EASO-affiliated (EASO = European Association for the Study of Obesity) national associations for the study of obesity were asked to invite 5 obesity experts from their country to participate in a survey. A total of 74 obesity professionals out of 23 countries participated.

Joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Obesity and the European Society of Hypertension: obesity and heart failure.

Obese individuals are more likely to develop heart failure. Yet, once heart failure is established, the impact of overweight and obesity on prognosis and survival is unclear. The purpose of this joint scientific statement of the European Association for the Study of Obesity and the European Society of Hypertension is to provide an overview on the current scientific literature on obesity and heart failure in terms of prognosis, mechanisms, and clinical management implications.

Joint scientific statement of the European Association for the Study of Obesity and the European Society of Hypertension: Obesity and early vascular ageing.

Current cardiovascular risk scores do not include obesity or fat distribution as independent factors, and may underestimate risk in obese individuals. Assessment of early vascular ageing (EVA) biomarkers including arterial stiffness, central blood pressure, carotid intima-media thickness and flow-mediated vasodilation may help to refine risk assessment in obese individuals in whom traditional cardiovascular risk scores and factors suggest no need for specific medical attention. A number of issues need to be addressed before this approach is ready for translation into routine clinical practice.

Lifelong patterns of BMI and cardiovascular phenotype in individuals aged 60-64 years in the 1946 British birth cohort study: an epidemiological study.

Background: Excess body fat is associated with an increase in risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in adulthood and these risks can adversely affect progression of arterial disease. We aimed to assess the impact of lifelong patterns of adiposity on cardiovascular risk factors and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) in later life in participants in the 1946 British birth cohort study.

Methods: The National Survey of Health and Development Study was a nationally representative sample of 5362 singleton births to married parents in England, Scotland, and Wales, stratified by social class, during 1 week in March 1946.

Cardiovascular effects of phentermine and topiramate: a new drug combination for the treatment of obesity.

Weight loss can reduce the increased cardiovascular risk associated with obesity. Pharmacotherapy is a recognized weight loss treatment option; however, cardiovascular safety issues with some previous weight loss drugs raise concerns for newly approved pharmacotherapies. Phentermine is approved for short-term obesity treatment in conjunction with lifestyle modifications, but is commonly used chronically.

Association of hypoglycemic treatment regimens with cardiovascular outcomes in overweight and obese subjects with type 2 diabetes: a substudy of the SCOUT trial.

Objective: To assess the association of hypoglycemic treatment regimens with cardiovascular adverse events and mortality in a large population of type 2 diabetic patients at increased cardiovascular risk.

Research Design And Methods: This analysis included 8,192 overweight patients with type 2 diabetes from the Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes (SCOUT) trial randomized to lifestyle intervention with or without sibutramine for up to 6 years. Patients were grouped according to hypoglycemic treatment at baseline.

Feasibility and indicative results from a 12-month low-energy liquid diet treatment and maintenance programme for severe obesity.

Background: There is no established primary care solution for the rapidly increasing numbers of severely obese people with body mass index (BMI) > 40 kg/m(2).

Aim: This programme aimed to generate weight losses of ≥15 kg at 12 months, within routine primary care.

Design And Setting: Feasibility study in primary care.

Uric acid as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality in overweight/obese individuals.

Background: The predictive value of serum uric acid (SUA) for adverse cardiovascular events among obese and overweight patients is not known, but potentially important because of the relation between hyperuricaemia and obesity.

Methods: The relationship between SUA and risk of cardiovascular adverse outcomes (nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, resuscitated cardiac arrest or cardiovascular death) and all-cause mortality, respectively, was evaluated in a post-hoc analysis of the Sibutramine Cardiovascular OUTcomes (SCOUT) trial. Participants enrolled in SCOUT were obese or overweight with pre-existing diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD).