Women reporting higher levels of physical fitness have fewer coronary artery disease risk factors, less coronary artery disease, and a lower risk for cardiovascular events, whereas measures of obesity are not as strongly associated with these outcomes, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.
Individual contributions of obesity and physical fitness (physical activity and functional capacity) to risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in women remain unclear, according to background information in the article. Most obesity studies have not adequately measured physical activity and many studies of physical fitness have excluded women with known or suspected coronary heart disease.
Timothy R. Wessel, M.D., of the University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, and colleagues investigated the relationships of physical fitness and obesity measures with CHD risk factors, coronary angiographic findings, and adverse cardiovascular events among a group of women undergoing coronary angiography to evaluate suspected ischemia.
The study (Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation [WISE]) included measures of obesity (body mass index [BMI] waist circumference, waist-hip ration, and waist-height ratio) and physical fitness (self-reported Duke Activity Status Index [DASI] and Postmenopausal Estrogen-Progestin Intervention questionnaire [PEPI-Q] scores). Participants included 936 women enrolled at four U.S. academic medical centers, 1996-2000, at the time of coronary angiography, and then assessed for adverse outcomes (average follow-up time, 3.9 years).