Heart Disease

Overview of Heart Disease

Heart disease kills about 600,000 people every year in the United States. The American Heart Association considers obesity a major cause of heart disease. Large studies show that the risk for heart disease increases with obesity (5). People with severe obesity are at a higher risk having a heart attack.

Obesity increases your risk of heart failure. Severe obesity is associated with irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias, or a heart beat that is not normal). These arrhythmias can triple the risk of cardiac arrest (cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating).