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A large new study has provided more evidence that larger waist size alone, even in people of normal weight, significantly raises the risk for heart disease.

Researchers used data on 80,360 Swedish men and women ages 45 to 83 who were enrolled in two long-term health studies over a seven-year period ending in 2004. During those years, 1,100 of them were either hospitalized for heart disease or died from it.

The researchers measured waist size, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-toheight ratio, and B.M.I., or body mass index, a weight-to-height ratio. All four measures were associated with heart disease, but waist circumference alone predicted heart disease risk regardless of other measures. B.M.I. was a significant predictor in women only if they had a large waist size. The study appeared online April 7 in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.

The researchers found that a 10-centimeter increase in waist size was associated with about a 15 percent increase in risk for heart disease, both in people of normal weight with a B.M.I. of 25 and in the obese with a B.M.I. above 30.


NICHOLAS BAKALAR