Study suggests good hydration may reduce long-term risks for heart failure

Staying well-hydrated might be associated with a reduced risk of developing heart failure. New findings of the research have suggested that consuming sufficient amounts of fluids throughout life not only supports essential body functioning but may also reduce the risk of severe heart problems in the future.
The research was published in the study, ‘European Heart Journal’.
Heart failure, a chronic condition that develops when the heart does not pump enough blood for the body’s needs, affects more than 6.2 million Americans, a little more than 2 per cent of the population. It is also more common among adults ages 65 and older.
“Similar to reducing salt intake, drinking enough water and staying hydrated are ways to support our hearts and may help reduce long-term risks for heart disease,” said Natalia Dmitrieva, Ph.D., the lead study author and a researcher in the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of NIH.
After conducting preclinical research that suggested connections between dehydration and cardiac fibrosis, a hardening of the heart muscles, Dmitrieva and researchers looked for similar associations in large-scale population studies.
They started by analyzing data from more than 15,000 adults, ages 45-66, who enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study between 1987-1989 and shared information from medical visits over a 25-year period.
In selecting participants for their retrospective review, the scientists focused on those whose hydration levels were within a normal range and were not suffering from diabetes, obesity, or heart failure at the start of the study. Approximately 11,814 adults were included in the final analysis, and, of those, the researchers found 1,366 (11.56 per cent) later developed heart failure.
To assess potential links with hydration, the team assessed the hydration status of the participants using several clinical measures. Looking at levels of serum sodium, which increases as the body’s fluid levels decrease, was especially useful in helping to identify participants with an increased risk for developing heart failure.
It also helped identify older adults with an increased risk for developing both heart failure and left ventricular hypertrophy, an enlargement and thickening of the heart.
For example, adults with serum sodium levels starting at 143 milliequivalents per litre (mEq/L) — a normal range is 135-146 mEq/L — in midlife had a 39 per cent associated increased risk for developing heart failure compared to adults with lower levels. And for every 1 mEq/L increase in serum sodium within the normal range of 135-146 mEq/L, the likelihood of a participant developing heart failure increased by 5 per cent.