Past history of obesity (overweight by WHO criteria) is associated with an increased risk of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction: a case-control study in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Obesity is an important risk factor for the occurrence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Western countries and furthermore, it often coexists with other CAD risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus. However, it is uncertain whether obesity is a CAD risk factor in Japan because Japanese are relatively thin on average.


RESULTS
The CAD risk associated with obesity (body mass index > or =25.0) 10 years before as well as at the time of the survey was assessed in a case - control study of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), which compared 660 AMI patients aged 40-79 years and 1,277 community controls, matched to each case by sex, year of birth, and residence. The prevalence of current obesity did not show any material difference between cases and controls, but compared with controls, past obesity was much more frequent in cases. Even after controlling for other CAD risk factors, past obesity was associated with a 2-fold increase in the risk of AMI. Past obesity was associated with an increased risk of AMI even without current obesity.


CONCLUSIONS
Past obesity is a CAD risk, even after weight reduction.
Washio
Masakazu
M
Department of Preventive Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan.
Hayashi
Ryoko
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001824:Body Constitution; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D014944:World Health Organization