BMI Aside, Waist Size Matters for Cardiovascular Risks
(MedPage Today) -- There were plenty of people whose normal weight belied the higher cardiovascular risk evident in their waist size, according to a pooled analysis of over a dozen cohort studies. Among those with normal weight or overweight measured...
A recent study found that waist size can indicate increased risk for heart disease even in people with normal body mass index (BMI). Researchers analyzed data from over 259,000 individuals across 15 large-scale studies, focusing on waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in addition to BMI. In normal-weight individuals, 5% had large WC and 18% had high WHR.
Overweight individuals had 39% with large WC and 40% with high WHR, while obese individuals had 9% with small WC and 45% with low WHR. For those with obesity, large WC and high WHR were most strongly linked to heart failure and atrial fibrillation, accounting for 13% to 49% of the population risk. The study suggests that waist measurements should be considered alongside BMI when assessing cardiovascular risk, especially in people with normal weight, to capture important heterogeneity in CVD risk.
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