Association between abdominal obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in normal-weight Korean women

Our purpose in this study was to investigate the association of blood pressure (BP), triglyceride (TG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), and fasting blood glucose (FG) levels with abdominal obesity in normal-weight Korean women grouped by age. Drawing from the 2001 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data set, we analyzed data from 3,427 adult women aged 20-79 years. Among normal-weight participants, 11.9% of women were identified as having abdominal obesity. Among those with normal weight in their twenties, thirties, and those over 60 years, those with abdominal obesity were more likely to have high TG than those without (OR = 5.46(1.94-15.38), 3.79(1.56-9.24), 2.05(1.18-3.57), respectively). We suggest that abdominal obesity may indicate higher cardiovascular disease risks even in normal-weight women.