Prospective studies indicate that apolipoprotein measurements predict coronary heart disease (CHD) risk; however, evidence is conflicting, especially in the US. Our aim was to assess whether measurements of apolipoprotein B (apoB) and apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) can improve the ability to predict CHD death beyond what is possible based on traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and clinical routine lipid measurements. We analysed prospectively associations of apolipoprotein measurements, traditional CV risk factors, and clinical routine lipid measurements with CHD mortality in a multi-ethnic representative subset of 7594 US adults (mean age 45 years; 3881 men and 3713 women, median follow-up 124 person-months) from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey mortality study. Multiple Cox-proportional hazards regression was applied. There were 673 CV deaths of which 432 were from CHD. Concentrations of apoB [hazard ratio (HR) 1.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09–3.61], apoA-I (HR 0.48, 95% CI 0.27–0.85) and total cholesterol (TC) (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.02–1.34) were significantly related to CHD death, whereas high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.45–1.05) was borderline significant. Both the apoB/apoA-I ratio (HR 2.14, 95% CI 1.11–4.10) and the TC/HDL-C ratio (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.04–1.16) were related to CHD death. Only apoB (HR 2.01, 95% CI 1.05–3.86) and the apoB/apoA-I ratio (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.04–4.19) remained significantly associated with CHD death after adjusting for CV risk factors. In the US population, apolipoprotein measurements significantly predict CHD death, independently of conventional lipids and other CV risk factors (smoking, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and C-reactive protein). Furthermore, the predictive ability of apoB alone to detect CHD death was better than any of the routine clinical lipid measurements. Inclusion of apolipoprotein measurements in future clinical guidelines should not be discarded.

Whether measures of central obesity, such as waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), provide additional information beyond body mass index (BMI) in defining mortality risks is unclear. This study examined data f... Background: The relationship between central obesity and survival in community-dwelling adults with normal body mass index (BMI) is not well-known. Objective: To examine total and cardiovascular mo...

The ongoing obesity epidemic represents a global public health crisis that contributes to poor health outcomes, reduced quality of life, and >2.8 million deaths each year. Obesity is relapsing, progressive, and heterogeneous. It is considered a chronic disease by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) and a chronic condition by the World Heart Federation (WHF). People living with overweight/obesity are at greater risk for cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. Increased adiposity (body fat), particularly visceral/abdominal fat, is linked to CV risk and CV disease (CVD) via multiple direct and indirect pathophysiological mechanisms. The development of CVD is driven, in part, by obesity-related metabolic, endocrinologic, immunologic, structural, humoral, haemodynamic, and functional alterations. The complex multifaceted nature of these mechanisms can be challenging to understand and address in clinical practice. People living with obesity and CVD often have concurrent chronic physical or psychological disorders (multimorbidity) requiring multidisciplinary care pathways and polypharmacy. Evidence indicates that intentional weight loss (particularly when substantial) lowers CVD risk among people with overweight/obesity. Long-term weight loss and maintenance require ongoing commitment from both the individual and those responsible for their care. This position paper, developed by the WOF and the WHF, aims to improve understanding of the direct and indirect links between overweight/obesity and CVD, the key controversies in this area and evidence relating to cardiometabolic outcomes with available weight management options. Finally, an action plan for clinicians provides recommendations to help in identifying and addressing the risks of obesity-related CVD (recognizing resource and support variances between countries).