Few Canadians understand waistline-heart disease link: Knowledge Driven Revolution

Most Canadians are unaware that a large waistline is a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, a global survey suggests.

The second annual Shape of the Nations survey of more than 11,000 people in 27 countries showed fewer than 20 per cent of Canadians recognized the importance a cluster of factors such as abdominal obesity and low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol put them at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"Doctors wear stethoscopes around their necks when they evaluate their patients," Prof. Jean-Pierre Després, director of research in cardiology at Laval Hospital in Quebec City, told CBC Newsworld on Thursday. "This," he added, pointing to a tape measure, "is probably a lot more useful to assess the risk of heart disease in their patients than a stethoscope."

Since Deprés's team introduced the idea 16 years ago that abdominal fat increases health risks, the evidence has been mounting.

Greater risk

Increased waist circumference puts you at greater risk, regardless of body mass index — a crude measure of body fat based on height and weight — according to a study of 180,000 people in 63 countries who had their waist circumference measured.

"The hazards of overweight and obesity has nothing to do with how fat you are," Després said. "It's where the fat is located that really matters."

Part of Deprés' job is to raise awareness of "cardiometabolic risk" — a cluster of factors including four classic and two emerging risk factors:

* Smoking.
* High blood pressure.
* High blood sugars.
* High LDL cholesterol.
* High waist circumference.
* Low levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol.
* High levels of triglyceride fats in the blood.

Progress has been made since last year's survey, when 14 per cent of Canadian physicians said they were measuring the waist circumference of their patients. The figure is now 39 per cent, the survey found.

The survey, commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis, included about 200 participants in each country who were interviewed by phone in March and April 2006. The survey was supported by the World Heart Federation, which includes the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

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Few Canadians understand waistline-heart disease link: survey