THURSDAY, Sept. 29, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- A major longitudinal study confirms what experts have long suspected: High blood pressure is key to the increased risk of fatal heart attack and stroke in overweight and obese people.
In the study, French researchers tracked the health of more than 240,000 people for an average of 14 years.
"We observed that cardiovascular risk is not clearly increased unless hypertension is present in these overweight and obese subjects," Dr. Athanase Benetos, of the Medical School of Nancy, said in a prepared statement. "In our population, the presence of hypertension was the most important factor that led to increased cardiovascular disease mortality among overweight subjects."
The researchers also found that:
The best way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death in overweight and obese people with high blood pressure is treatment that targets both blood pressure and weight, Benetos said.
The study was published in a recent issue of Hypertension.
More information
The American Heart Association has more about heart disease risk factors.