It's long been known that overweight and obese people have high heart disease risk. A new report in Like what you're reading? Get convenient updates from Craig Stoltz on Facebook, iGoogle, your personal blog and more!
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how do i know
Me
Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 08:38 AMre: how do i know
Craig Stoltz
Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 08:54 AMHi Me,
Thanks for your question. As a journalist and not a doctor, there's only so much help I can provide here.
But I'll point you to some good sources to help you understand your potential risk for heart disease--which of course need to be confirmed by trained medical professionals before you take any action.
First, a Body Mass Index (BMI) above 25 is considered overweight, above 30 is considered obese. BMI was developed as a research tool to study populations, not as an individual risk-assessment tool. But it can provide a rough sketch of where you stand on the overweight/obesity scale. Athletes and people with unusual body shapes often have misleading BMI stats. Having said all that: Learn how to calculate your BMI here.
On the following page you'll find information about waist-to-hip ratio, another measure sometimes used to estimate heart disease risk.
Mayo Clinic has an excellent heart risk calculator which requires more information from you but uses a robust statistical model to estimate heart disease risk a bit more personally and precisely.
I hope all that's helpful. But please go see your doctor before taking any action, or making any assumptions about your "real" heart risk. These tools are blunt instruments, not full health assessments.
Good luck and good health,
Craig
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