According to a new study related to belly fat and heart failure, the body mass index (BMI) and the waist size of people influence their risk of being hospitalized with the heart failure condition or even death from the same.

The findings of the study indicated that each additional BMI point increased the risk of heart failure hospitalization or death by 3 percent in women and 7 percent in men; while a waist-size increase of 10 centimeters furthered the risk by 19 percent in women and 30 percent in men.

Heart failure does not mean that the heart has ceased functioning; it means that the organ is not robust enough to pump blood competently through a person's body; causing difficulty in breathing, and fatigue.

Lead researcher Dr. Emily B. Levitan, of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said: "Obesity has effect on blood pressure and lipids and increases the risk of heart disease," by increasing the "workload of the heart. The bigger someone's body, the harder the heart has to work to pump the blood around!"

For the Swedish study spanning six years, the researchers observed 36,873 women, aged 48 to 83 years, and 43,487 men, aged 45 to 79 years. The follow up of these people revealed that as many as 382 women and 718 men were either hospitalized for heart failure or died from the ailment.