Prevalence of overweight and obesity and its relation to coronary heart disease in the CORIS study.

Abstract

Using body mass index as a measure of overweight and obesity in the Coronary Risk Factor Study (CORIS) on a large white South African study population (N = 7,188) aged 15-64 years, 41.9% of the men and 38.8% of the women were overweight and, in addition, 14.7% of the men and 18.0% of the women were obese. In a subset of the study population (45-64-year-old age group) coronary risk factors were related to the different weight categories. Mean values of serum cholesterol, uric acid and systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased progressively from the underweight, through the normal and overweight to the obese category in both sexes, while the high-density lipoprotein/total cholesterol ratio and the number of cigarettes smoked per day showed an inverse trend. The daily energy expenditure remained unchanged across the weight categories. Coronary heart disease prevalence was progressively higher in the overweight and obese groups compared with the normal weight group.