Associations among 5-year changes in weight, physical activity, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in Mexican Americans

Recent changes in lifestyle have led to a global epidemic of obesity. To de termine the associations of these changes with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, the authors correlated changes in CVD risk factors with changes in w eight and physical activity in a population-based sample of 539 Mexican Ame ricans in the San Antonio Heart Study in 1992-1999 who were examined twice approximately 5 years apart. Average weight change during that interval was 2.7 kg. While change in physical activity (expressed as percent change) wa s associated modestly only with change in low density lipoprotein cholester ol median diameter (p = 0.017), weight change was strongly and positively a ssociated with unfavorable changes in lipid and lipoprotein traits, insulin levels, and blood pressure, explaining 2-10% of the variation in the risk factor changes during the interval. The unfavorable associations with weigh t gain tended to be more pronounced in lean compared with obese individuals and in men compared with women. However, the associations were significant for most CVD risk factors in all groups. In Mexican Americans, a populatio n at high risk for obesity, weight change was positively correlated with me tabolic variables associated with risk of CVD. Therefore, increasing adipos ity in this population may tend to slow, or even reverse, the decline in CV D morbidity and mortality.