By Ed Stoddard Tue Mar 6, 9:01 AM ET
DALLAS (Reuters) - Abdominal obesity is a bigger heart attack risk factor in Latin America than elsewhere, partly because of surging consumption of junk foods loaded with sugar and fat, researchers reported on Monday.
Stress and high blood pressure are other risk factors having a disproportionate impact on the region while smoking is also taking a heavy toll on Latin American hearts, according to a study published this week in the journal Circulation.
"Interventions to encourage lifestyle changes that target those risks could have a large impact on heart attacks in the region," said Dr. Fernando Lanas, professor of medicine at the Universidad de la Frontera in Temuco, Chile.
"Compared with other areas of the world ... we were surprised to find how much higher the (risk factors were) for abdominal obesity and stress," Lanas said.
The study was part of INTERHEART, a global analysis of heart attack risk factors compared by region.
It examined 1,237 patients admitted with a first heart attack to a medical facility in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala and Mexico. They were matched by age and gender and compared to a control group of 1,888 people.
Those in the control group had no history of heart problems or chest pain.
RAPID SHIFT IN DIET
The participants were surveyed about smoking, diet, high blood pressure and psychosocial factors.
Waist-to-hip ratios -- which indicate the amount of fat in the abdomen -- were among the physical measurements taken.
"Latin America differed from other regions studied in INTERHEART by having a larger proportion of heart attack risk due to high blood pressure, abdominal fat and permanent stress," the
American Heart Association, which publishes Circulation, said in a statement.
In an accompanying commentary Sidney C. Smith Jr., director of the Center for Cardiovascular Science and Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, wrote that high energy-dense foods such as highly sugared drinks and fatty fast foods were taking developing regions by storm.
"In Latin American countries and many others with developing economies, there has been a rapid shift in diet to increased consumption of high energy-dense foods and caloric beverages," Smith wrote.
And when people drink calorie-containing beverages, they do not eat less to compensate, Smith said.
Researchers said such observations underscored the need for major lifestyle and behavioral changes in Latin America.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and is attributable to more than one quarter of all deaths in Latin America, the Heart Association said.
"Risk factors were similar in the various Latin American countries studied, with most of the heart attack risk explained by tobacco use, abnormal lipids, abdominal obesity and high blood pressure," it said.