- "Thou shouldst eat to live;
not live to eat."
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Socrates
Waist-to-hip Ratio Best at Predicting Heart Attack
NEW YORK
(Reuters Health) - Obesity is a known risk factor for heart attacks and
it's usually determined by calculating a person's body mass index (BMI),
which is based on their height and weight. New research suggests,
however, that another obesity measure, the waist-to-hip ratio, is a
better predictor of heart attacks.
As the name implies, the
waist-to-hip ratio is a calculation of a person's waist circumference
divided by their hip circumference. A high ratio results in the
so-called "apple-shaped body," whereas a low ratio indicates a
"pear-shaped body." Previous reports have linked a high ratio with a
greater risk of heart disease.
"The main message from
the new...report is that current practice with BMI as the measure of
obesity is obsolete, and results in considerable underestimation of the
grave consequences of the overweight epidemic," Dr. Charlotte Kragelund,
from Akershus University, and Dr. Torbjorn Omland, from the University
of Oslo, both in Norway, comment in a related editorial.
The findings, which
appear in The Lancet, are based on a comparison of BMI and waist-to-hip
ratio in predicting heart attacks in more than 26,000 subjects drawn
from 52 countries and representing several major ethnic groups.
Consistent with previous
reports, Dr. Salim Yusuf, from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario,
and colleagues found that the risk of heart attack increased as BMI
rose. However, after accounting for waist-to-hip ratio and other risk
factors, the association was no longer statistically significant.
By contrast,
waist-to-hip ratio predicted the heart attack risk, and the correlation
remained significant even after accounting for other factors. The risk
of heart attack increased progressively as waist-to-hip ratio climbed,
with subjects in the highest ratio group being 75 percent more likely to
experience an attack than those in the lowest ratio group.
"Our findings suggest
that substantial reassessment is needed of the importance of obesity for
cardiovascular disease in most regions of the world," the authors
conclude.
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SOURCE: The Lancet,
November 5, 2005, and
worldhealth.net
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