Body mass index and waist circumference: association with cardiovascular risk factors.

Objective: To evaluate the association between cardiovascular risk factors and the anthropometric values--body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC).

Methods: It was studied 231 employees of Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, 54.1% of them were men (21-76 years old). Glycemia, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, blood pressure, BMI, WC, waist-to-hip ratio and body fatness were measured. It was also investigated smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity.

Results: The prevalence of overweight/obesity in this population was high mainly in women. The abdominal obesity was observed in 74% of the women and 46.1% of the men. The average of BMI, body fatness, total cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides were significantly higher in men than in women. (p < 0,05). The sedentary lifestyle was a risk factor for obesity. Smoking and alcohol consumption were more common among men and normal weight volunteers. Most of the correlations between anthropometric indices and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases were significant, but weak and the WC was the index that had the strongest correlation and that associated with the largest number of variables. It was observed that with an increase of the BMI and the abdominal fat, there was also an increase of the glycemia, triglycerides and blood pressure and a decrease of HDL. The metabolic syndrome was more common among men and overweight and obese volunteers.

Conclusion: In this study, the frequency of cardiovascular risk factors increased along with BMI and WC.