London: Here's the bottom-line -- keep your waistline in control, otherwise you could end up having heart problems, say researchers.
A new study has revealed that an extra four inches of fat around the waist could raise a person's risk of developing heart problems, even if they are the right weight for his or her height.
According to the researchers, women carrying the extra weight around their stomachs are 15 per cent more likely to develop heart failure while men with a pot belly are 16 per cent more likely to develop the life-threatening condition.
"Previous research has looked at various types of heart disease and related health issues, and no matter the particulars of the study, they've all been pretty consistent in determining that excess body weight increases a person's risk of heart disease," explained the lead researcher Emily Levitan of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre.
"By any measure -- BMI, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio or waist to height ratio -- our findings showed that excess body weight was associated with higher rates of heart failure," quoted Emily in The Daily Telegraph. quoted lead researcher Emily Levitan of Beth Israel.
For their study, the researchers looked at two earlier researches, which measured the height, weight and waist size of over 80,000 patients between the ages of 45 and 83.
The findings showed that having a pot belly increased the chance of suffering heart failure among those with normal Body Mass Index (BMI) almost as much as being overweight, that raised the risk by 18 per cent.
To be specific, 34 per cent of the women examined were overweight while 11 per cent were obese. There was a similar pattern among the men, 46 per cent were overweight and 10 per cent obese, the Circulation: Heart Failure reported.
Over the seven years of both studies, carried out in Sweden, there were 1,100 cases of heart failure and 64 deaths.
BMI is a comparison of a person's weight to their height and a score of between 20 and 25 is considered normal, while above 25 is overweight and above 30 obese.
An increase of four inches (10 cm) in waistline raised the chance of suffering heart failure by 15 per cent among people of a normal BMI. Women with waists larger than 35 inches, the accepted healthy size for women, and men with waists larger than 40 inches are considered to be at high risk of developing heart problems, the study concluded.