title: Relationship of body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio with fibrinolytic activity measured as D-dimer.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Increased coagulability or impaired fibrinolysis may partly explain how obesity increases cardiovascular disease risk. However, there has been some controversy regarding the relationship of anthropometric measures, like body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and D-dimers. We aimed to determine the relationship of general and visceral obesity to D-dimer in a group of outpatients with different BMI and WHR ranges.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional study with adult patients from an outpatient primary health service. BMI, WHR and triceps skin fold were measured. Blood samples were collected from all patients and D-dimer levels were obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 66 patients were included in the analysis. The patients had a mean age of 54.6 ± 15.3 years. Fifty-three (80.3%) patients were female and 13 (19.7%) were male. The mean BMI, WHR and triceps skin fold were 30.1 ± 6.9 kg/m(2), 0.88 ± 0.08, 20.9 ± 7.6 mm, respectively. For all the study group, D-dimers were positively correlated only with WHR (r = 0.27, p = 0.038). D-Dimers values were not related to BMI and to triceps skin fold. D-Dimers were moderately correlated with WHR in women (r = 0.40, p = 0.021), but not in male patients (r = 0.18, p = 0.601).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that abdominal obesity may lead to disturbances in hemostasis, at least in female patients.
authors: C K
authors: CK
authors: Franco
authors: D R
authors: DR
authors: Silva
authors: Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. Electronic address:smenna@terra.com.br.
authors: S S M
authors: SS
authors: Barreto