Waist-to-height ratio predicts heart failure incidence, according to research presented today at the recently-held Heart Failure 2025, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). 

Obesity affects a substantial proportion of patients with heart failure (HF) and it has been reported that the risk of HF increases as body mass index (BMI) increases. 

Study presenter, Dr. Amra Jujic from Lund University in  Sweden, said BMI is the most common measure of obesity, but it is influenced by factors such as sex and ethnicity, and does not take into account the distribution of body fat. 

The study population consisted of 1,792 participants from the Malmö Preventive Project. Participants were aged 45-73 years at baseline and were selected so that approximately one-third had normal blood glucose levels, one-third had impaired fasting glucose and one-third had diabetes. All participants were followed prospectively for incident HF. 

The study population had a mean age of 67 years and 29% were women. 

During the median follow-up of 12.6 years, 132 HF events occurred. Higher WtHR was associated with a significantly increased risk of incident HF, independent of confounders. 

When WtHR was categorised into quartiles, individuals with the highest values of WtHR (median of 0.65) had a significantly higher risk of HF compared with individuals in the other three quartiles 

Study co-author, Dr. John Molvin from Lund University and Malmö University Hospital, Sweden, said the median WtHR in the study was considerably higher than 0.5, the cut-off for increased cardiometabolic risk.