Different classifications of body mass index and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in an elderly population in southern Brazil

Resumo

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to assist in the diagnosis of nutritional status, being associated with classic cardiovascular risk factors, such as, for example, Systemic Arterial Hypertension (SAH), Diabetes Mellittus (DM), dyslipidemia and also correlated with general and cardiovascular mortality. However, different BMI classifications are recommended for the elderly, with different cutoff points suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Lipschitz. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the prevalence of classic cardiovascular risk factors in elderly women according to three different BMI classifications (WHO, PAHO and Lipschtiz). This is a cross-sectional study, which evaluated elderly women aged ≥60 years, living in the South of Brazil. Socio-demographic data (age, education and occupation) and the prevalence of classic cardiovascular risk factors (SAH, dyslipidemia, DM and obesity) were collected using a standardized questionnaire. For anthropometric assessment, weight, height and BMI were calculated. 288 elderly women participated in the study, with an average of 67.61±5.78 years old. Elderly women had a high prevalence of excess weight, corresponding to 50%, 68,40% and 44,44% for BMI references according to Lipschitz, WHO and PAHO, respectively. Regarding the cardiovascular risk factors evaluated, the most prevalent ones found were systemic arterial hypertension (63.2%), dyslipidemia (37.2%) and diabetes mellitus (16%). BMI classified by WHO and PAHO were associated with hypertension and DM. The Lipschitz classification was significant only for DM.