Subarachnoid haemorrhage is a common type of stroke, characterized by bleeding in the space between the patient’s brain and the surrounding membrane.
It was previously reported that obese people suffer from the subarachnoid haemorrhage significantly less frequently and these two health conditions have been linked. Now a new Finnish–Norwegian study informed that obesity in fact does not protect against subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Subarachnoid haemorrhage is a life-threatening condition that kills many younger, working people that are otherwise healthy. Image credit: Hellerhoff via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) commonly results in death and thinking that being overweight reduces the risk of this condition is quite dangerous. Obesity increases the risk of many different life-threatening conditions. In fact, obesity has been linked with a heightened risk of developing a number of diseases of the cardiovascular system, which is one of the reasons why reduced risk of subarachnoid haemorrhage seemed so out of place. However, studies indicated that it is the case, even though scientists couldn’t come up with any possible explanation, why obesity would reduce the risk of this kind of a stroke.
Now researchers analysed a dataset containing follow-up data for more than 200,000 individuals collected over almost 50 years. This is the first study where researchers comprehensively considered factors that may confound the findings. And the results are pretty clear – obesity in fact does not protect against SAH.
Scientists found that the link between obesity and SAH is pretty minor, but other factors need to be considered as well. Obesity deteriorates one’s health overall, which in turn increases the risk of a variety of conditions, including cardiovascular damage. Miikka Korja, the principal investigator of the study, said that this study is “an excellent illustration of why studies on the risk factors associated with cerebral haemorrhage should be based on large and high-quality research datasets. Risk factors related to lifestyle are rarely independent of one another, which makes it challenging to investigate their interconnections. It’s easy to draw incorrect conclusions on the independent effects of individual risk factors”.
The effects of obesity on health are largely negative and far-reaching. Obesity damages the cardiovascular system, joints and pretty much everything else. There are evidence suggesting that obesity can be linked to a higher risk of dementia not to mention injuries and associated disability.
While these are not surprising news, we should be glad that scientists managed to clear that up. Any kind of information claiming benefits of being overweight should be questioned. Because there are way more studies showing how damaging obesity is and how important it is to lose weight in order to expect a long and healthy life.
Source: University of Helsinki