Comparison of CAD risk factors in abdominal obesity versus General obesity with normal WC in adult males

Objective: To compare the presence of coronary artery disease risk factors in patients with abdominal obesity versus generalised obesity and to determine the probability of developing the disease in both groups. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out at the Department of Medicine, Combined Military Hospital, Okara, from January 2012 to April 2013. Using consecutive sampling, 785 outdoor healthy adult males were enrolled. Body mass index 25kg/m² and waist circumference 90cm defined obesity and abdominal obesity respectively. Blood pressure 140/90mmHg defined Hypertension. All the subjects underwent BSF, electrocardiogram, Lipid profile, personality and physical activity assessment. Risk estimation was done using Eric Brittain scoring system. Data was analysed using SPSS 16. Results: In patients with abdominal obesity, 583 (99.2 %) individuals had at least 1 risk factor for coronary artery disease, while in those with generalised obesity this prevalence was 96.5% (n=191). In patients with abdominal obesity, 52.9% had more than 4% risk of developing the disease in the next 6 years compared to 36.9 % individuals with generalised obesity. Conclusion: Both increasing body mass index and waist circumference are associated with increased risk of developing coronary artery disease, with significantly higher risk prevalence in the latter group. Moreover, those with abdominal obesity had a higher risk of developing CAD in next 6 years as compared to those with generalised obesity. Thus waist circumference offers additional prognostic information beyond body mass index.