Waist size predicts heart-disease death better than weight - CNN.com

Waist size provides a far more accurate way to predict a heart patient's chances of dying at an early age from a heart attack.

Doctors have long known that obesity increases a person's risk of heart disease, but in recent years the picture has grown more complicated.

Several studies have found that a high body mass index is associated with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and other chronic illnesses -- a mysterious phenomenon that has come to be known as the "obesity paradox." (Body mass index, or BMI, is a ratio of height to weight used to define obesity.)

According to a new analysis in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the paradox appears to be explained by the simple fact that BMI is a very flawed measure of heart risk. Waist size provides a far more accurate way to predict a heart patient's chances of dying at an early age from a heart attack or other causes, the study found.

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Full article at cnn.com

 

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