All-cause mortality of metabolically healthy or unhealthy obese: risk stratification using myocardial perfusion imaging

INTRODUCTION: There is still controversy about the favorable prognosis of “metabolically healthy” (MH) obese. This study evaluated mortality and the use of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) for risk stratification of MH or metabolically unhealthy (MU) obese or nonobese patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients without dyslipidemia, hypertension, or diabetes were considered MH, and those with ≥ 1 of these risk factors were considered MU. The MPS was categorized as normal, abnormal or ischemic. Patients were followed for 4.0 ±1.0 years for all-cause death. RESULTS: Of 2450 patients, 613 were obese. The MH obese patients less often had ischemia than MU obese, but there was no significant difference in the prevalence of ischemia compared to all nonobese. The annualized death rate of MH obese was 1.3% and of nonobese 1.0% (p = 0.4). An abnormal MPS and the MU status were independently associated with death, with hazard ratios of 1.85 and 1.72, respectively. A normal MPS identified patients with low risk among all subgroups; annualized rates of death were 1.0%, 1.1% and 1.0% for all nonobese, MH obese and MU obese, respectively (p = 0.63). CONCLUSIONS: The annualized death rate of MH obese patients was not significantly different from that of nonobese individuals. Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy was able to stratify prognosis in the overall patient population. These data may be helpful to identify high-risk individuals, thereby improving patient management.