Skip Navigation
Skip to contents

Diabetes Metab J : Diabetes & Metabolism Journal

Search
OPEN ACCESS

Articles

Page Path
HOME > Diabetes Metab J > Volume 44(5); 2020 > Article
Response
Response: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601)
Eun-Jung Rhee, Won-Young Leeorcidcorresp_icon
Diabetes & Metabolism Journal 2020;44(5):781-782.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4093/dmj.2020.0221
Published online: October 21, 2020
  • 4,070 Views
  • 62 Download

Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

corresp_icon Corresponding author: Won-Young Lee Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 29 Saemunan-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03181, Korea E-mail: drlwy@hanmail.net

Copyright © 2020 Korean Diabetes Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

prev next
See the letter "Letter: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601)" on page 777.
First of all, we would like to thank Darae Kim for her interest in our article [1]. We are delighted that Kim recognized the impact our study results will have on future research in this field. We found that participants with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and diabetes showed a significantly increased heart failure (HF) risk compared to normoglycemic participants based on National Health Insurance System (NHIS) data. In addition, this increased risk of HF was most prominent in underweight and class II obese participants versus participants with normal weight, showing a J-shaped relationship. To the best of our knowledge, our study was the first to show a gradual increase in HF risk across glycemic status and obesity grade in three-dimensional analysis.
In our study, participants who had diabetes at baseline were at 1.86-fold increased risk of HF during a median 6.3 years of follow-up compared with normoglycemic participants. However, the more surprising finding was that even participants with IFG showed a small but significant increase in risk of HF (odds ratio, 1.08), suggesting an effect of hyperglycemia on HF development. The presumed mechanisms of HF development with hyperglycemia are myocardial triglyceride accumulation, insulin resistance, cardiomyocyte stiffness and myocardial collagen deposition due to deposition of advanced glycation end products, alterations in myocardial energy metabolism from glucose as the main fuel to fatty acid oxidation, and insulin resistance as an aggravating factor [2-4].
As Kim kindly suggested, there were some differences in HF risk according to age and sex in our study. In subgroup analyses, in those without diabetes, people 65 years or older showed higher HF risk than people younger than 65 years. However, this was exactly the opposite in those with diabetes, in that younger patients showed higher HF risk than older patients. In addition, in analysis according to sex, in those without diabetes, women showed slightly increased HF risk compared with men, while this difference was not significant in those with diabetes. Although we did not further analyze HF risk according to obesity degree in the different sexes as Kim suggested, we could observe that sex has different effects on HF risk [5]. Unfortunately we could not analyze HF risk according to subtype of HF, since there were no echocardiogram data or claim codes for HF subtype in the NHIS data obtained.
We agree with Kim’s opinion that the risk of HF associated with obesity or dysglycemia is modifiable. Diastolic dysfunction is often associated with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) [6]. Therefore, weight loss could attenuate hemodynamic derangements that can lead to HFpEF, as obesity is one of the pathophysiologic causes of diastolic dysfunction [7]. Recent studies reached a consensus on the positive effects of exercise in the prevention and treatment of HF, probably through weight loss and reduction of cardiac loading [8]. Therefore, we should educate our patients with high HF risk on healthy lifestyle modifications related to diet and exercise. Accordingly, recent guidelines on HF recommended regular exercise as a treatment option for HF [9].
We would like to thank Darae Kim again for her comprehensive review of the relationship between HF and metabolic risk factors. Furthermore, as she mentioned, we hope that our study will be a starting point for research on the role of lifestyle interventions in HF prevention.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

  • 1. Rhee EJ, Kwon H, Park SE, Han KD, Park YG, Kim YH, Lee WY. Associations among obesity degree, glycemic status, and risk of heart failure in 9,720,220 Korean adults. Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601.ArticlePubMedPMCPDF
  • 2. Falcao-Pires I, Hamdani N, Borbely A, Gavina C, Schalkwijk CG, van der Velden J, van Heerebeek L, Stienen GJ, Niessen HW, Leite-Moreira AF, Paulus WJ. Diabetes mellitus worsens diastolic left ventricular dysfunction in aortic stenosis through altered myocardial structure and cardiomyocyte stiffness. Circulation 2011;124:1151-9.ArticlePubMed
  • 3. Basta G, Schmidt AM, De Caterina R. Advanced glycation end products and vascular inflammation: implications for accelerated atherosclerosis in diabetes. Cardiovasc Res 2004;63:582-92.ArticlePubMed
  • 4. Shimizu I, Minamino T, Toko H, Okada S, Ikeda H, Yasuda N, Tateno K, Moriya J, Yokoyama M, Nojima A, Koh GY, Akazawa H, Shiojima I, Kahn CR, Abel ED, Komuro I. Excessive cardiac insulin signaling exacerbates systolic dysfunction induced by pressure overload in rodents. J Clin Invest 2010;120:1506-14.ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 5. Savji N, Meijers WC, Bartz TM, Bhambhani V, Cushman M, Nayor M, Kizer JR, Sarma A, Blaha MJ, Gansevoort RT, Gardin JM, Hillege HL, Ji F, Kop WJ, Lau ES, Lee DS, Sadreyev R, van Gilst WH, Wang TJ, Zanni MV, Vasan RS, Allen NB, Psaty BM, van der Harst P, Levy D, Larson M, Shah SJ, de Boer RA, Gottdiener JS, Ho JE. The association of obesity and cardiometabolic traits with incident HFpEF and HFrEF. JACC Heart Fail 2018;6:701-9.ArticlePubMedPMC
  • 6. Sharifov OF, Schiros CG, Aban I, Denney TS, Gupta H. Diagnostic accuracy of tissue doppler index E/e’ for evaluating left ventricular filling pressure and diastolic dysfunction/heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Heart Assoc 2016;5:e002530.PubMedPMC
  • 7. Rayner JJ, Banerjee R, Holloway CJ, Lewis AJM, Peterzan MA, Francis JM, Neubauer S, Rider OJ. The relative contribution of metabolic and structural abnormalities to diastolic dysfunction in obesity. Int J Obes (Lond) 2018;42:441-7.ArticlePubMedPDF
  • 8. Cattadori G, Segurini C, Picozzi A, Padeletti L, Anza C. Exercise and heart failure: an update. ESC Heart Fail 2018;5:222-32.ArticlePMCPDF
  • 9. Fleg JL, Cooper LS, Borlaug BA, Haykowsky MJ, Kraus WE, Levine BD, Pfeffer MA, Piña IL, Poole DC, Reeves GR, Whellan DJ, Kitzman DW; National Heart and Blood Institute Working Group. Exercise training as therapy for heart failure: current status and future directions. Circ Heart Fail 2015;8:209-20.PubMedPMC

Figure & Data

References

    Citations

    Citations to this article as recorded by  

      • PubReader PubReader
      • ePub LinkePub Link
      • Cite this Article
        Cite this Article
        export Copy Download
        Close
        Download Citation
        Download a citation file in RIS format that can be imported by all major citation management software, including EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks, and Reference Manager.

        Format:
        • RIS — For EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks, and most other reference management software
        • BibTeX — For JabRef, BibDesk, and other BibTeX-specific software
        Include:
        • Citation for the content below
        Response: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601)
        Diabetes Metab J. 2020;44(5):781-782.   Published online October 21, 2020
        Close
      • XML DownloadXML Download
      Related articles
      Response: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601)
      Response: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601)
      Rhee EJ, Lee WY. Response: Associations among Obesity Degree, Glycemic Status, and Risk of Heart Failure in 9,720,220 Korean Adults (Diabetes Metab J 2020;44:592-601). Diabetes Metab J. 2020;44(5):781-782.
      DOI: https://doi.org/10.4093/dmj.2020.0221.

      Diabetes Metab J : Diabetes & Metabolism Journal
      Close layer
      TOP