Underweight people are up to 26 per cent more likely to die following a heart attack (acute myocardial infarction) than people with a ‘normal’ weight – in other words, they were neither overweight nor obese.
The researchers, from Yale University, tracked the survival rates of 57,574 elderly people who were receiving hospital care after suffering a heart attack. The underweight patients were 13 per cent more likely to die within 30 days after the attack, and the risk doubled over the following 17 years. Overweight and obese patients were not included in the research.
They conclude that being underweight is a risk factor after a heart attack.
(Source: PLOS Medicine, 2016; 13: e1001998)
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