Q. Can Obesity causes the cardiovascular disease?

Obesity is established as a leading predictor of CAD and is associated with several cardiovascular risk factors like cholesterol, hypertension and glucose intolerance which may increase all cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. A positive association between BMI, TC and TG levels and a reduction in HDL-C levels has been documented in various age groups. Distribution of fat appears to be a more important predictor than total amount of fat because android fat patterns are more metabolically active and highly associated with dyslipidemia. Although waist to hip ratio have indicated a linear association between obesity and CAD, the waist to hip predictor of CAD, among obese persons, those with central adiposity are at particularly high risk.

BMI is recognized as a measurement of obesity and is defined as weight (kg)/height (m2). Guidelines define obesity as a BMI of 27.8 or more for men and 27.3 or more for women. Morbid obesity has been defined as a BMI of 31.1 for men and 32.3 for women. The Nurseshealth study showed that women with a BMI of 25 to 29 had an age adjusted relative risk of CAD of 1.8 compared with the leanest women. Women with morbid obesity (BMI>29) had a relative risk of CAD of 3.3.

Caloric restriction, behavior modification and exercise are the main treatment modalities for weight loss. The greatest weight losses have occurred with a combined regimen of diet and exercise rather than diet or exercise alone.