Central Obesity and Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors in Referral Outpatients to Zahedan Cardiology Clinic, Iran

BACKGROUND Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is one of the most common and life-threatening diseases in both developed and developing countries and a close correlation has been found between different types of obesity and CHD. OBJECTIVES The current study investigated the relationship between central obesity and coronary heart disease risk factors in CHD referral outpatients to Khatam Clinic, Zahedan, Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this clinical, cross-sectional study, data for 120 CHD patients aged 30-60 years were included. Based on waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), subjects were classified into two groups: not centrally obese (NCO; WHR ≤ 0.95 for men, ≤ 0.8 for women) and centrally obese (CO; WHR > 0.95 and > 0.8 for men and women, respectively). Triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and fasting blood sugar (FBS) were enzymatically determined. Sitting systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured for each patient. RESULTS Significantly more women than men and significantly more subjects with less education than subjects with more education were CO. Rates of CO were higher in subjects 45-60 years old than in those 30-45 years old (n.s.). CO subjects also had higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, TG, and creatinine levels (n.s.). Significantly higher mean values were observed for FBS in CO subjects than in NCO subjects (P = 0.02). Mean values for smoking were significantly higher in the NCO group compared with the CO group (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS According to the results of this study, in CHD patients, central obesity was associated with certain risk factors, especially FBS. Central obesity was more evident in women, less educated subjects, and older subjects. Further research is required to clarify these associations.