EVALUATION OF WAIST-HIP RATIO IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Background - Central obesity, which has recently been considered by many investigators, is one of the major cardiovascular risk factors. It can be assessed by measuring the waist-hip ratio (WHR). The relation between the WHR and coronary artery disease (independent of other risk factors such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and cigarette smoking) has not been definitely proven. Moreover, the WHR may be affected by race, life style, and diet. Therefore, it is necessary to do such an important study in Iran.
Patients and Methods - This is a hospital based, case-control study performed on 272 patients referred to Chamran Heart Center in 1999. The case group consisted of patients with coronary obstruction and the control group comprised those without apparent coronary artery disease. The patients with diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and positive family history were excluded from the study. Both the case and control groups were matched for age and sex. The interobserver differences in measuring the WHR were corrected before the study.
Results- The WHR was higher in the case group than in the control group in both genders. In the male case group this was 0.96 and in the male control group it was 0.92 (p=0.009). In the female case group the ratio was 1 and in the female control group it was 0.92 (p = 0.09)
Conclusion- The findings indicate that the WHR is a risk factor for coronary artery disease, independent of other well-known risk factors.