Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C3qVjCfLHJU/ Best of: May 2022 Obese women experiencing menopause after age 55 were 3 times more likely to experience often-deadly heart failure compared to women with normal body weight.  Cardiovascular researchers at UC-Davis analysed the risk of congestive heart failure for 4441 women in 4 communities across the US including those in Minnesota, Maryland, North Carolina, and Mississippi looking at the apparent impact of excess weight and obesity.   Their analysis showed that frank obesity increased heart failure risk more than 11 fold for those with late menopause at 55 years or older and more than 8 fold for those with earlier menopause at 49 years or younger.  The study confirmed previous findings that even women with normal body weights were at risk for heart failure if their periods ceased at 45 years or younger since such women tended to put on weight as they aged.   The bottom line: carrying excess weight strains the heart.  This life-giving muscular organ can o