"Obesity Paradox Prevails For PCI In Women" - Patrice Wendling
Adjusted analyses from the largest study so far examining the effects of body mass index (BMI) in women undergoing PCI with a drug-eluting stent (DES) show that BMI had no effect on adverse cardiac events, that being overweight or mildly obese conferred a survival benefit, and being underweight increased the risk for all-cause and cardiac death more than twofold. The findings are consistent with those observed in men undergoing PCI but also call attention to the higher risks known to exist for underweight women, said senior author, Roxana Mehran, MD, professor of medicine, cardiology, population health science and policy and director of interventional cardiovascular research and clinical trials and the Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "The fact that we didn't show more MIs, more recurrent revascularizations, and other end points is not as significantly important as us understanding that the all-cause mortality, when you correct for everything after PCI in these small, frail ladies, is much higher," Dr. Mehran said. "We need to pay special attention to these patients, understand what their follow-up is, and how to care for them."
- Roxana Mehran, MD, Professor, Medicine, Cardiology, Population Health Science and Policy, Director, Interventional Cardiovascular Research and Clinical Trials, Zena and Michael A. Weiner Cardiovascular Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai