A tape measure may help a woman gauge her
risk for heart disease.
American researchers say women with a waist circumference
of 35 inches or more are more likely to develop heart
disease than women with smaller waistlines.
Researchers at Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons in New York City analyzed data from 6,000
women without known heart disease who had their waistlines
measured on National Women's Heart Day in February 2005.
The study found that at least 90 percent of the women
had at least one major risk factor for heart disease,
and one-third of the women had three or more risk factors,
such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Increases in waist circumference were also correlated
with a woman's 10-year chance of having a heart attack
or dying of heart disease, the researchers noted in the
current issue of the Journal of Women's Health.
Many of the women were unaware they had major heart disease
risk factors. Nearly half of those with elevated cholesterol
or low HDL ("good") cholesterol said no health-care
provider had ever told them they had abnormal cholesterol
levels.
Forty-three percent of the women had higher-than-normal
blood glucose levels and 16 percent of women with no documented
history of hypertension were found to have high blood
pressure requiring treatment.
"Measuring waist circumference may be a simple method
that women can identify themselves as being at increased
heart attack risk and empower them to seek further evaluation
and possible treatment from their doctors," study
lead author Dr. Lori Mosca, director of preventive cardiology
at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and professor of medicine
at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons,
said in a prepared statement.
The next National Women's Heart Day will take place Feb.
17 in 14 cities across the United States.
"These findings underscore the need to educate women
about their personal risk of cardiovascular disease and
educate them that where there is one risk factor present,
there are likely more," Mosca said.
