Abnormal electrocardiography is associated with obesity

Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia for the first time found a direct link between obesity and abnormal signs of electrical current in the heart.

The heart contracts the controlled rhythm of a conduction system in the heart muscle. The currents are very small, about a thousandth of a volt, but can be detected from the electrodes placed on the patient's arms, legs and chest and transferred to the recorder. The electric recorder amplifies and records on the electrocardiogram. Accordingly, electrocardiography is used in medicine to detect heart diseases such as cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, myocardial infarction .

Cardiologist Dr. Hany Abed said there is growing evidence that obesity changes the structure and size of myocardium, changes the electrical function in the heart and causes the heart to become fat.

Impaired cardiac electric function may lead to abnormal heart rhythms; in which there is a phenomenon of electrical disturbance in the atria , often called atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia in the world. That is, muscle twitching into a rapid and irregular vibration form, mostly due to electricity running back up from the ventricles or because electricity is blocked and reflected.

The proportion of patients hospitalized for atrial fibrillation in Australia has increased more than three times in the past 15 years, of which elderly, overweight men are at highest risk. This is also a direct cause of heart attack and stroke.

Dr. Abed's job is to find ways to determine how obesity affects the heart and whether weight loss may reduce the risk of developing atrial fibrillation.

"We have known that obesity increases blood pressure and causes the heart to become overworked," he said. "Basic research in the current laboratory also shows that obesity causes abnormalities." of electric current in the heart cavity. "

Dr Abed said that according to health estimates, two-thirds of the atrial fibrillation cases in Australia by 2020 are caused by obesity. However, atrial fibrillation is usually detected by chance only when checking for health or someone with dizziness, palpitations and chest pain. Unfortunately, the first sign of arrhythmia is when a person has a stroke.