ABSTRACT
The existence of an obesity paradox has been proposed lately, suggesting that obese individuals may have a survival benefit on acute cardiovascular decompensation. We look at mitral valve stenosis (MS) and a feature of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and degree of MS in RHD patients. An observational study was done, looking at 225 medical records from RHD patients at a heart service installation in Bandung. Anthropometric and echocardiography results were taken and analyzed using Kruskal–Wallace followed by Mann–Whitney for numeric data and chi-square for categorization. Underweight, normal, overweight, and obese percentages are 16%, 52%, 15%, and 17% respectively. Severe MS is distributed most in the normal BMI group. There is relationship between BMI and degree of MS. Median of mitral valve area (MVA) in the obese group shows the greatest among other groups (1.2 vs 0.8–0.9 cm2) and significant. Statistically, this may support the evidence of an obesity paradox in RHD patients with MS.
