Pakistan Journal of Science (Vol. 62 No. 1 March, 2010) FREQUENCY OF DYSLIPIDEMIA IN OBESE VERSUS NON - OBESE IN RELATION TO BODY MASS INDEX (BMI), WAIST HIP RATIO (WHR) AND WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE (WC) S. Z. A. Shah, B. R. Devrajani, T. Devrajani and I. Bibi * Department of Medicine, * Department of Dermatology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro / Hyderabad (LUMHS) Corresponding author email: zulfikar229@hotmail.com ABSTRACT: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, from March 2008 to August 2008. The two groups and total 200 subjects (100 in each group) attending medical out patient department were selected and their age, sex, BMI, WHR, WC and lipids profile were measured. Obese group included those who had high BMI (> 30), WHR (>1.0 for males and > 0.85 for females), and WC (>102 cm for males and >88 cm for females) and vice versa. The distribution of the lipid levels and the frequency of dyslipidemia were noted for both the groups. Obese subjects showed significant (p≤0.05) dyslipidemia. Thirty seven percent subjects had total cholesterol >200 mg/dl, 46% had high-density lipoproteins (HDL) cholesterol of <40 mg/dl, 31% had low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol of >130 mg/dl and 51% had triglycerides (TG) >150 mg/dl, while non-obese group also showed significant dyslipidemia. On comparing the lipid profile between these two groups, the mean value of total cholesterol was not different significantly (P>0.05) while the mean values of total HDL cholesterol, total LDL cholesterol and TG in obese group were different significantly (P<0.05) between the groups. It may be concluded that dyslipidemia is strongly associated with obesity but presence of dyslipidemia in non-obese group emphasizes the need for routine health screening for preventive measure. Key words: Dyslipidemia, Obesity, Body mass index, Waist - hip ratio, Waist circumference. INTRODUCTION Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat accumulates to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and it is a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease. (Rankinen et al., 2006) Obesity is associated with many diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing difficulties during sleep, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. The prevalence of obesity is rising to epidemic proportions at an alarming rate in both developed “Westernized” and less developed countries around the world. (Mokdad et al., 1999) The Body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2 ) is widely used for the classification of overweight (BMI 25) and obesity (BMI 30) in men and women, (Ogden et al., 2006 and WHO, 1997). BMI correlates reasonably well with laboratory-based measures of adiposity for population studies, (Heymsfield et al., 1995) and is extremely practical in most clinical settings. However, BMI does not account for the wide variation in body fat distribution, the nature of obesity across different individuals and populations, and the joint relation of body composition and body size to health outcomes (Michels et al., 1998). Many studies have reported that body fat distribution is a more powerful predictor than is BMI for risk factors, diseases, and mortality (Albrink et al., 1964 and Larsson et al., 1984). Increased visceral or abdominal adipose tissues in particular have been shown to be more strongly associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk and a variety of chronic diseases (Folsom et al., 1993 and Bjorntorp, 1993). Therefore, measurements that are more sensitive to individual differences in abdominal fat might be more useful than BMI for identifying obesity- associated risk factors (Reeder et al., 1997 and Lean et al., 1995). The waist circumference (WC) is a convenient measure of abdominal adipose tissue and is unrelated to height, correlates closely with BMI (Onat., 1999 and Lean et al., 1996) and total body fat, and is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors independent of BMI. Accordingly, WC may be an effective clinical tool for assessing the risk of cardiovascular diseases (Okosun et al., 2000). Besides all the preventive measures that are screening for indices of obesity and dyslipidemia the prevalence of the obesity and its complications is increasing worldwide and is one of the major public health problems. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of lipid profile in obese versus non - obese patients and to determine the frequency of dyslipidemia in these two groups. 27