Gender-related associations of increased body mass index with clinical and laboratory variables in individuals with no evidence of heart disease.

BACKGROUND In clinical practice, the patients we care for display a wide range of body mass indices, from lean to obese. This finding may be the sole apparent clinical abnormality. OBJECTIVE To evaluate clinical and laboratory variables that might be associated with increased body mass index in asymptomatic men and women with no evidence of heart disease, to provide data to substantiate medical recommendations in a study sample from our everyday practice. METHODS The subjects aged 14 to 74 years (mean 40.6 years), 295 men (43.1%) and 389 women (56.9%) The associations between body mass index stratified by gender and clinical and laboratory variables were analyzed using the Spearman correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression. RESULTS The mean body mass index (BMI) did not differ significantly between women (26.15 Kg/m(2)) and men (26.33 Kg/m(2)). In the multiple linear regression model, the ratios of total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL-C) (beta = 1.1320; p < 0.001) and serum glucose (beta= 0.0233; p = 0.023) were independently correlated with body mass index in women. In men, the variables independently correlated with BMI were the TC/HDL-C (beta = 0.793; p < 0.001) and age (beta = 0.0464; p = 0.030). CONCLUSION In men and women with no evidence of heart disease, TC/HDL-C increased with body mass index in both genders. Other indices associated with BMI included serum glucose in women and age in men. Clinical and laboratory variables associated with body mass index may differ in relation to gender.