Obesity and Cardioprotection

The incidence of obesity and diabetes is increasing rapidly worldwide. Obesity and metabolic syndrome are strictly linked and represent the basis of different cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension and inflammatory processes predisposing to ischemic heart disease, which represent the most common causes of heart failure. Recent advances in the understanding of ischemia/reperfusion mechanisms of injury and mechanisms of cardioprotection are briefly considered. Resistance to cardioprotection may be correlated with the severity of obesity. The observation that heart failure obese patients have a better clinical condition than lean heart failure patients is known as “obesity paradox”. It seems that obese patients with heart failure are younger, making age the most important confounder in some studies. Critical issues are represented by the "obesity paradox” and heart failure exacerbation by inflammation. For heart failure exacerbation by inflammation, an important role is played by NLRP3 inflammasome, which is emerging as a possible target for heart failure condition. These critical issues in the field of obesity and cardiovascular diseases need more studies to ascertain which metabolic alterations are crucial for alleged beneficial and deleterious effects of obesity.