BODY FATNESS - LONGITUDINAL RELATIONSHIP OF BODY-MASS INDEX AND THE SUM OF SKINFOLDS WITH OTHER RISK-FACTORS FOR CORONARY HEART-DISEASE

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the longitudinal relationships between body mass index (BMI)/sum of skinfolds (SSF) and biological and lifestyle risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). DESIGN: An observational lon gitudinal study; that is, the Amsterdam Growth and Health Study. SUBJE CTS: 181 males and females, initially aged 13y. Over a period of 15y, six repeated measurements were carried out. MEASUREMENTS: BMI and SSF, biological CHD risk factors; that is, total cholesterol (TC), high de nsity lipoprotein (HDL), TC:HDL ratio, systolic/diastolic blood pressu re (SBP/DBP) and cardiopulmonary fitness (VO2-max) and lifestyle CHD r isk factors (that is, daily physical activity, dietary parameters, smo king, and alcohol consumption). The longitudinal relationships were an alysed by an autoregressive model, in which the value of the outcome v ariable at time-point t is not only related to the value of the predic tor variable at t, but also to the value of the outcome variable at t - 1. RESULTS: Both BMI and SSF were positively related to TC and the T C:HDL ratio. Only BMI was positively related to SEP and only SSF was n egatively related to (V) over dot O-2-max. Physical activity was negat ively related to SSF. None of the other lifestyle parameters were rela ted to SSF and/or BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Both BMI and SSF were related to a high risk profile regarding CHD. Different relationships for SSF and BMI are found, because BMI not only reflects body fatness, but also le an body mass. Analyses with BMI as an indicator for body fatness shoul d therefore be interpreted cautiously.