BMI Just Part Of Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Picture

Main Category: Heart Disease
Also Included In: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 10 May 2005 - 0:00 PST


Insulin resistance syndrome, also known as the metabolic syndrome and syndrome X, carries a risk of ischemic heart disease and may be present in people with a normal body mass index (BMI).

St-Pierre and colleagues examined the data for a cohort of men to determine the effect of cumulative features of insulin resistance syndrome on the risk of ischemic heart disease associated with different BMI categories.

They found that, among obese men, only those who had more than 4 features of the syndrome were at increased risk of ischemic heart disease compared with normal-weight men who had fewer than 3 features of the syndrome. Conversely, normal-weight men with more than 4 features of the syndrome had a 3-fold increase in risk.

In a related commentary, Janssen points out the clinical importance of identifying high-risk patients with insulin resistance syndrome and the need to treat the syndrome aggressively in all patients.

p. 1301 Insulin resistance syndrome, body mass index and the risk of ischemic heart disease - A.C. St-Pierre et al
cmaj.ca/misc/press/pg1301.pdf

p. 1315 Heart disease risk among metabolically healthy obese men and metabolically unhealthy lean men
- I. Janssen
http://www.cmaj.ca/misc/press/pg1315.pdf

Canadian Medical Association Journal
http://www.cma.ca/cmaj

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