Association of overweight and obesity with coronary risk factors and the presence of multivessel disease in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease – A nationwide registry study

Background

The growing prevalence of obesity is expected to increase the burden of coronary artery disease. This study examined the prevalence of overweight and obesity in patients with a first-time diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease in a contemporary population. The association of body-mass-index (BMI) with age, traditional risk factors, and the presence of multivessel disease were explored.

Methods and results

Using the Danish Nationwide registries, we identified 49,733 patients with a first-time diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease in the period 2012–2018. We investigated the association between BMI and coronary risk factors by multivariate logistic regression. Mean age was 65.8 ± 11.8 years, mean BMI was 27.5 kg/m² ± 7.2, and 73.2 % were men. 66.3 % had a BMI ≥25 kg/m² and 1.3 % were underweight. The prevalence of patients with BMI ≥25 kg/m² decreased with increasing age and was 69 % in patients <50 year vs. 46.2 % in patients ≥80 years (p < 0.001). In all age groups, higher odds of BMI ≥25 kg/m² were observed in males, former smokers, and patients with hypertension. In multivariate logistic regression, BMI ≥25 kg/m² was not associated with presence of multivessel disease (p = 0.74).

Conclusion

In this large, nationwide study, 66.3 % of patients with first time diagnosis of obstructive coronary disease had BMI ≥25 kg/m². Young patients had higher BMI and were more likely to be current smokers. Overweight or obesity was independently associated with the presence of diabetes and hypertension. BMI ≥25 kg/m² was not independently associated with the presence of multivessel disease.