March 17, 2006 – Male or female, your waist measurement would be a more accurate measurement than your age or your body mass index (BMI) in predicting your risk of developing cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.
This is what emerges from an international study1, conducted with the help of 6,407 general practitioners who, in 63 countries (excluding the United States), measured the height of 168,159 patients.
The Dr Steve Haffner presented the results of this study called IDEA (International Day for the Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity) in Atlanta. “This confirms the need for waist circumference measurement as well as commonly used measurements to screen patients at increased cardiometabolic risk,” he said. Cardiometabolic risk is the overall risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
If the BMI remains valid, it turns out to be less precise because it “does not take into account the significant differences in the distribution of body fat from one subject to another”, one can read in a press release issued by the steering committee of the IDEA study. An individual can thus have a healthy weight according to his BMI, but have abdominal obesity which predisposes him to certain diseases.
The study authors believe that, thanks to the number of participants recruited and their heterogeneity, the results underscore the pandemic nature of abdominal obesity. The study has not yet been published, PasseportSanté.net did not have access to the precise data.
Harmful fatty tissue
Abdominal obesity is an accumulation of fatty tissue in the abdomen, under the skin and between the viscera. It is not clear why it is so damaging to health. This study, the first part of a vast epidemiological program, does not provide more answers.
The researchers are exploring a lead: fatty tissue, which produces chemicals harmful to the metabolism, heart and blood vessels, could be the cause.
According to the Research Chair on Obesity at Laval University, it is a question of abdominal overweight when the waist circumference is greater than 80 cm (32 in) in women and 94 cm (37 in) in the man. As for abdominal obesity, it is associated with a waist circumference of 88 cm (34.6 in) in women or 102 cm (40 in) in men. The health risks are then considered very high: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia (presence of fats in the blood) and cardiovascular disorders.
According to the IDEA study, beyond these thresholds, there is a 21% to 40% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease for each 14 cm (5.6 in) increase in waist circumference in men, and 14.9 cm (5.9 in) for women.
It should be noted that among the 3,202 Canadians who took part in the study, 70% of men and 60% of women suffered from abdominal obesity.
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To learn more about this, see our report on obesity. |
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Haffner S, on behalf of the International Day for the Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity (IDEA) Executive Committee, Waist circumference and Body Mass Index are both independently associated with cardiovascular disease, IDEA survey. The results of the study (unpublished) were released on Tuesday, March 14, 2006, as part of the 55e American College of Cardiology Annual Meeting, held in Atlanta, USA.
