A simple meter allows you to detect a silent but serious risk for your heart

A simple meter allows you to detect a silent but serious risk for your heart
During the European Congress Heart Failure 2025, a study reveals that the size/waist ride would be a very good indicator of risk of heart failure, better than BMI. Easy to measure at home, this ratio could become a key prevention tool. We explain how to proceed.

Presented on May 18, 2025 in Belgrade during the Heart Failure 2025 congress of the European Cardiology Society (ESC), a new study highlights a simple but dilutedly relevant indicator. The size/size tower ratio (height) also called WTHR could predict the risk of heart failure. According to researchers from the University of Lund, this marker is even more effective than the BMI that we know well.

Fat localized around size, a precise indicator

Obesity is a common factor in many patients with heart failure and it is known that this risk increases with an increase in the body mass index (BMI). But according to Dr. Amra Jujic from the University of Lund in Malmö (Sweden), this indicator suffers from several defects: “The BMI is influenced by elements such as sex and ethnic origin, and does not take into account the distribution of body fats. The size/size tower ratio is perceived as a more precise evaluation of central adipositywhich is the harmful accumulation of fat around the internal organs“. This is why his team wanted to know if this indicator is not more reliable …

The population studied included 1,792 participants of the Malmö preventive project. Aged 45 to 73 years old at the start, the participants were selected so that around a third of them have normal blood sugar, a third a altered Jewish blood sugar and a third a diabetes. All participants were subject to prospective follow -up to detect any heart failure. Result: out of the 132 events of heart failure identified, an association with the high WTHr -height ratio was statistically obvious, regardless of other risk factors.

A simple measure to do at home

“Our results suggest that WTHR could be a better indicator than BMI to identify patients with heart failure likely to benefit from obesity treatments”, said Dr. John Molvin, co-author of the study. Researchers believe that the WTHR could therefore supplant BMI in the identification of patients at risk.

Very well but how do you know if your waist indicates a risk? The measurement is simple: “A size less than half the size is ideal ” indicate the researchers.

To refine their discovery, their next investigations will focus on wider cohorts in order to explore the links between this ratio and other cardiometabolic disorders.

Heart insufficiency: a silent and frequent pathology

What if this measure opened our eyes? Far from being rare, heart failure (CI) concerns 2 to 3 % of the population, and almost 10 % of the over 75s. It occurs when the heart loses power of contraction and can no longer effectively pump blood, depriving oxygen and nutrient organs.

“There are three main categories of patients affected by heart failure” Explained the cardiologist Dr Florence Beauvais in a previous True Medical subject.

  • The over 70s, often hypertensive and subjects to heart rate disorders;
  • 45-70s having undergone a severe infarction;
  • And younger patients victims of cardiomyopathies, often of genetic, viral or toxic origin like alcohol

There are many causes of the IC: infarction, valvulopathies, hypertension, diabetes, arrhythmia … but also certain rare diseases, infections, anemia or thyroid disorders.

How to recognize heart failure?

Often insidious, heart failure can be gradually manifested. Here are the signs to watch:

  • Speaking of effort (dyspnea) or in an elongated position (orthopneous);
  • Nocturnal cough;
  • Leg edema and feet;
  • Chronic fatigue;
  • Sudden and unexplained weight gain.

Diagnosis and management: locate the disease before it evolves

A doubt about your health? The diagnosis of heart failure is based on several exams:

  • Clinical examinationwhich makes it possible to identify the evocative signs;
  • Echocardiographyreference examination to assess the heart function and its severity;
  • Electrocardiogram (ECG)useful for detecting a arrhythmia or a sequelae of infarction;
  • A blood testto search for underlying causes or aggravating factors.

“Some patients can be asymptomatic, others must be hospitalized in emergency”recalled the cardiologist.

Prevention requires control of risk factors: hypertension, diabetes, cholesterol, weight, sedentary lifestyle, but also by a better assessment of adiposity – which WTHR could now facilitate.