Sunday, March 13, 2011

BMI, Other Adiposity Measures Don't Add Much to Cardiovascular Risk Prediction

Measures of adiposity do not greatly improve cardiovascular risk prediction beyond that provided by blood pressure, diabetes history, and lipid profile, according to a study in the Lancet.

Researchers assessed data on 220,000 patients free of cardiovascular disease in 58 prospective cohorts. Over a mean 5.7 years' follow-up, some 14,000 cardiovascular events occurred.

After adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, diabetes history, and total and HDL cholesterol, increasing increments of BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist circumference were individually associated with roughly similar increases in cardiovascular risk (with hazard ratios ranging from 1.07 to 1.12). In addition, adding these adiposity measures to a cardiovascular risk prediction model that included traditional risk factors did not improve the model's risk discrimination.

Commentators note: "The study dispelled previous hope that assessment of body size could replace the cost, time, and inconvenience of blood lipids assay."

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