Association of Body Mass Index and Central Adiposity Indices with Ischemic Heart Disease in Tertiary Care Hospitals in Rawalpindi

Objective: To ascertain the correlation of body mass index and abdominal adiposity with ischemic heart disease in different age groups and gender, and to assess which of the two factors have a stronger association with ischemic heart disease. Methods: Study was conducted in tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi from Oct 2020 to Dec 2020. A sample size of 200 using Raosoft sample size calculator(1) was taken with 85% response distribution and non – probability purposive sampling was done. All the measurements were recorded according to the guidelines by WHO. Data was then analysed using SPSS version 25. Confidence interval was set to 95% with 5% margin of error. Results: 49.3% (n=82) of male and 67.6% (n=23) of the female patients were observed to have increased BMI. Increased waist circumference was observed in 128 (77.1%) male and 33 (97%) female patients. Only 5 (3.01%) male and 1 female patient (2.94%) had both normal BMI and waist circumference whereas, 50 (30%) male and 9 (26.4%) female patients showed normal BMI but abnormal waist circumference. For WC, WHR, WHtR and BAI (males), p value< 0.001 which infers that these measurements in IHD patients differ significantly from general healthy population. Conclusion: Our study showed significant correlation of BMI and central adiposity indices with ischemic heart disease. More importantly, measures of abdominal adiposity were better associated with IHD as majority of the patients showed abnormal central adiposity indices despite having a normal BMI.