OBESITY AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS: IMPLICATIONS FOR STROKE AND ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Objective: Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, significantly impacting public health and healthcare systems. Among these conditions, strokes and acute myocardial infarctions stand out due to their severity and prevalence. In 2022, 159 million children and adolescents and 879 million adults were living with obesity, accounting for over one billion people affected globally—equivalent to one in eight individuals. These events are often the result of multiple risk factors, ranging from lifestyle habits to genetic predispositions. Analyzing these factors is essential for developing prevention strategies and health promotion initiatives to reduce the incidence and mortality associated with these diseases. Objectives: To evaluate the association between cardiovascular risk factors and stroke and acute myocardial infarctions Design and method: A retrospective, observational study was conducted involving patients from an internal medicine team managing an average of 8–10 beds between January 2022 and October 2024. Results: The cohort study included 379 patients, 53.3% of whom were female, with a median age of 76.99 years (minimum age: 23 years, maximum age: 100 years). Among the patients, 12.66% experienced AMI and 20.05% had CVA. Regarding cardiovascular risk factors, 21.64% had dyslipidemia, 82.6% had hypertension (HTN), of which 0.52% had secondary hypertension, 35.32% had type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and 24.01% reported smoking habits. A significant relationship was observed between hospitalized patients with stroke, acute myocardial infarctions and a Body Mass Index (BMI) >40 kg/m2, with 66.67% for stroke and 20% for acute myocardial infarctions. This finding underscores obesity as a critical cardiovascular risk factor, independent of HTN and T2DM. Concerning the combination of cardiovascular risk factors (obesity, T2DM, HTN, and dyslipidemia), 26.1% of patients had only one risk factor, 52.3% had two, and 10.6% had more than two. Conclusions: Given the high number of patients with obesity, cardiovascular complications, and the associated high mortality rates leading to significant societal costs, a reevaluation of current approaches and accessible treatment options for obesity is warranted.