MedicalNewsToday.com reports on research, published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology. The study involved 22,000 people aged between 35-77 who were enlisted from the Swedeheart cardiac arrest registry. 17000 of these were male.
Each person was followed for 4 years and the team concluded that stomach fat was a more vital indicator of recurrent heart attacks than general obesity , defined as a waist circumference of more than 94 cm (37 inches) in men and 80cm (31.5 inches ) for women.
The conclusion they reached was that:
"Patients with increasing levels pf abdominal obesity still had a raised risk of recurrent events despite being on therapies that lower traditional risk factors such as anti-hypertensives, diabetes medication and lipid lowering drugs".
"Maintaining a healthy waist circumference is important for preventing future heart attacks and strokes regardless of how many drugs you may be taking or how healthy your blood tests are".
Dr Hanieh Mohammadi, The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.