Women, Health, and Heart Disease:

Reasons for Concern

A person's Body Mass Index, or BMI, is calculated by dividing her weight in kilograms by the square of her height in meters. Values of BMI over 30 indicate obesity which correlates with an increased risk for heart disease.

Another cause of potential heart problems is a lack of physical activity. This study considered less than 1000 kilocalories a week of exercise to be an inactive lifestyle. To put that in perspective, it's comparable to walking at a strong pace for half an hour, five days a week.

Looking at the Whole Picture

A number of studies have offered conflicting results about the importance of each of these risk factors. Some have concluded that individuals with a higher BMI are in more danger than those with poor exercise habits, but others have concluded that physical inactivity is a greater danger than a high BMI value. The goal of the research published by Dr. Weinstein's group in the Archives of Internal Medicine was to determine the combined effect of the two factors- how concerned should an obese person who exercises daily be? How about a skinny individual who happens to be a complete couch potato? To find out they examined information on almost 40,000 healthy women who had been part of a Women's Health Study for over ten years.

BMI the Greater Threat

As expected, overweight (BMI 25-30), obese (BMI greater than 30), and inactive women all encountered higher levels of coronary heart disease than their slimmer, more active peers. However, overweight and obese women were at significantly greater risk than inactive individuals with a BMI below 25.

The study found that active overweight women were 1.54 times as likely to experience coronary heart disease as active normal weight women. Active obese women were 1.87 as likely. For comparison, the ratio for those with inactive live styles but average weight was only 1.08.

Still Worth the Exercise?

If you read that and think there's no point in exercising once you're overweight, the answer is no! While active overweight and obese women were more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease than those of lower weight, they were around 20-25% less likely than women of a similar BMI who were inactive. And of course, if adopting a more active lifestyle causes your BMI to drop, then the benefit to your health will be twice as significant.

References:

Amy R. Weinstein, MD, MPH; Howard D. Sesso, ScD, MPH; I-Min Lee, MBBS; et al. The Joint Effects of Physical Activity and Body Mass Index on Coronary Heart Disease Risk in Women, Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(8):884-890.

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