Obesity, particularly central or abdominal obesity, is associated with increased risks for CVD and is perhaps second only to smoking as a leading avoidable cause of premature death. The benefits of weight reduction are difficult to detect, perhaps because, among the 90 percent of subjects who are successful at weight loss, about 90 percent eventually regain the lost weight. While obesity contributes to hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance leading to diabetes among those with metabolic syndrome, increased risks of CVD are also present for obese patients without metabolic syndrome.
Obesity is a risk factor for CHD in both men and women .The increase in risk is seen with increasing weight within the "normal" range, but is more pronounced with obesity. Using a body mass index (BMI) less than 21 kg/m 2 as a reference in the Nurses' Health Study, the adjusted relative risk for…
