Not only obese, but also overweight people are exposed to a higher risk of heart failure, compared to lean mean, according to a study of American doctors published online on Dec. 22 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The findings also showed that even a little physical inactivity increased the risk of the condition.

The Harvard-based Physicians' Health Study followed more than 21,000 physicians with no evidence of coronary disease. For more than 20 years, researchers looked at the influence of overweight and physical activity on development of heart failure.

Satish Kenchaiah, M.D., and colleagues from Harvard Medical School in Boston found that even modestly increased weight was linked to a raise in heart failure resulting from diabetes, hypertension or heart attacks. In this group, for each pound added, participants’ risk of heart failure increased. To emphasize the difference, obese men had a 180 percent higher risk of having heart trouble, compared to their thinner peers. Vigorous activity cut the risk of heart failure by 18 percent. For men who did exercise five to seven times a week, the decrease was 36 percent. The more they exercised, the more reduction they achieved, Kenchaiah said.

"What this study shows is that even overweight men who are not obese have an increase in heart failure risk," said lead author  Kenchaiah, who conducted the study as a epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and is now at the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.