A recent study suggested that waist circumference better predicts the risk of diabetes than body mass index (BMI), a commonly used measurement of obesity. Now research reports that waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) better predicts the risk of heart attack than BMI, the conventional measure.
The case-control study, published in the journal Lancet (2005, vol. 366, no. 9497), compared WHR and BMI in predicting the risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack). Canadian researchers at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Canada, analyzed the medical records of 27,098 participants in 52 countries, representing major ethnic groups. Out of the 27,098 participants, 12,461 had suffered a heart attack and 14,637 were a control group.
Researchers found that the risk of heart attack grew in proportion to hip size. In contrast, BMI demonstrated a more modest proportional association with heart attack. Furthermore, the participants with the highest WHR had a 50 percent greater risk of heart attack, compared to those participants with the lowest WHR.
"Waist-to-hip ratio shows a graded and highly significant association with myocardial infarction risk worldwide," the study authors write. "Redefinition of obesity based on waist-to-hip ratio instead of BMI increases the estimate of myocardial infarction attributable to obesity in most ethnic groups."
Posted by Kristopher Foster on June 26, 2006 01:22 PM
