Expanding Waistlines Pose Greater Stroke Risk.

The study was conducted by Tobias Back, M.D., lead author of this study and Director of the Department of Neurologyat Saxon Hospital Arnsdorf in Arnsdorf/Dresden, Germany, who says "Obesity is an increasing problem with 66 percent of the adults in The United States being overweight or obese," and  "In Germany,50 percent of the adult population is overweight. While gaining too much weight can present health risks, it's even more dangerous to have the abdominal type of obesity. People should measure their waistline from time to time and avoid the accumulation of abdominal fat."

The study included 379 participants (average age 66 years) who had previously had a stroke or TIA and 758 age- and sex-matched regional controls. Participants received a complete health work-up. Obesity was measured by BMI; waist circumference; WHR, defined as waist divided by hip circumference; and WSR, where the waist circumference is divided by body height.

Dr. Back further states, "If the waist-to-hip ratio values were greater than .97 for men and .84 for women, then individuals faced almost eight times increased risk for stroke compared to individuals with a WHR less than 0.92 in men or less than 0.78 in women."

"By using different statistical approaches, it was confirmed that waist-to-hip ratio appeared to be the strongest predictor of stroke and TIA risk," Dr. Back said.

He provided a strongly worded solution, yet simple approach to this increasingly common risk factor - "Physicians should measure patient's waistlines and use the waist-to-hip ratio to estimate stroke risk. World Health Organization-defined categories of WHR or waist circumference should be used. Doctors should also consider the whole vascular risk profile to minimize or modify all possible factors contributing to coronary heart disease, stroke and peripheral artery disease."

Simply put, Back advised individuals to be physically active, avoid smoking and to eat a healthy diet. "Physical activity was much more common in the controls than in the stroke and TIA patients," he said. "For example, a Mediterranean diet containing fish and olive oil can lower your risk of coronary heart disease and possibly also lower stroke risk."

Back said clinical research into therapeutic interventions is needed."We urgently need trials to test the effect of weight loss on vascular risk profiles, especially on the risk of stroke."

Co-authors of the study are: Yaroslav Winter, M.D.; Sabine Rohrmann, Ph.D.; Jakob Linseisen, Ph.D.; Oliver Lanczik, M.D.; Peter A. Ringleb, M.D.; and Johannes Hebebrand, M.D.
The German Ministry of Education and Research/National Genome Research Network funded the study.

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