MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Larger waist circumference was a stronger risk factor for sudden death thanbody mass index (BMI) in a French study reported at the November 2004 AmericanHeart Association Scientific Sessions in NewOrleans.¹

Researchers followed 7,079 French policemen, with initial data collectedfrom 1967 to 1972, and mortality prospectively checked for 23 years. Of thesemen, 118 succumbed to sudden death and 192 had suffered fatal myocardialinfarctions by study's end.

The men, aged 43–52 years at time of data collection, were measuredfor sagittal waist circumference (anteroposterior, just below xiphoid level)and BMI, among other variables.

Only waist circumference was associated with increased sudden-death risk.Even men with normal BMI but larger waist circumference had three times therisk of men with normal BMI and low waist circumference.

In the Paris study, waist circumference was measured with a sliding caliperwhile patients were standing. More recent studies tend to measure patients ina supine position, at a lower abdominal level (at the iliac crests).

Several new studies have discussed intra-abdominal fat and waist-to-hipratio as cardiac disease risk factors. This study, the authors believe, is thefirst to look specifically at the relationship between abdominal fat andsudden death.

Sudden death is unexpected, abrupt loss of heart function resulting indeath before reaching a hospital. According to the American Heart Associationweb site, sudden cardiac death strikes some 340,000 U.S. adults eachyear.²