Correlation and discrepancies between obesity by body mass index and body fat in patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite its many shortcomings, body mass index (BMI) is the most widely used screening tool for obesity, in part, because of its practicality. Other more physiologic measurements of obesity are based on body fat (BF). However, the correlation between BMI and BF has not been well-characterized, especially in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). METHODS: We retrospectively studied 581 patients with CHD following major CHD events, who were divided according to BMI (calculated as weight divided by height squared), based on the World Health Organization standard cutoff points (underweight [<18.5 kg/m], normal [≥18.5 and <25 kg/m], overweight [≥25 and <30 kg/m], and obese [≥30 kg/m]). Second, the population was divided according to BF, on the basis of the age- and gender-adjusted Gallagher BF classification into underweight, normal, overweight, and obese categories. RESULTS: Body mass index and percent BF correlated significantly (r = 0.60; P