An autopsy study of coronary atherosclerosis and its relation to anthropometric measurements/indices of overweight and obesity in men

• Published in: Journal of forensic and legal medicine Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 12 - 17
• Main Authors: Rastogi, Prateek, MD, Pinto, Denver S., MBBS, Pai, Mukta R., MD, Kanchan, Tanuj, MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2012; Churchill Livingstone Inc., Medical Publishers
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anthropometry; Atherosclerosis; Autopsies; Autopsy; Body mass index; Coronary Artery Disease - pathology; Coronary artery diseases; Forensic anthropology; Forensic Pathology; Hip circumference; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Mortality; Obesity; Pathology; Prospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Waist circumference; Waist hip ratio; Young Adult; Waist circumference; Body mass index; Coronary artery diseases; Hip circumference; Waist hip ratio; Atherosclerosis
• ISSN: 1752-928X; 1878-7487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jflm.2011.09.003

Abstract Atherosclerosis accounts for a large proportion of cardiovascular system associated morbidity and mortality. The present autopsy based study is aimed to study the correlation between coronary atherosclerosis and anthropometric measurements/indices of overweight and obesity such as; Waist Circumference (WC), Hip Circumference (HC), Body Mass Index (BMI), and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) in men from southern India. The present research also analyses the correlation between anthropometric measurements/indices of overweight and obesity in men with number of coronaries affected with atherosclerosis in individuals. The study included 50 autopsies conducted in the Government District Wenlock Hospital, Mangalore during March and September 2008. The heart was dissected following standard autopsy protocol and a 5 cm section of the right coronary artery (RCA) in the atrio-ventricular groove from its origin, a 5 cm segment of the left anterior descending artery (LADA) distal to the origin of the circumflex artery, but including the region of origin of the circumflex branch and left coronary artery (LCA) from its origin till the circumflex branch were excised, dissected out, fixed in 10% formalin, marked for identification and sent for histopathological analysis. The study shows a positive correlation of WC and WHR with atherosclerotic changes in the RCA. The number of arteries affected with atherosclerosis is found to be well correlated with WC, BMI and WHR. The study confirms an association between anthropometric measurements/indices of obesity, grade of atherosclerosis in the RCA and the number of arteries affected with atherosclerosis. Anthropometric measurements/indices of obesity can be an effective means to identify high risk cases of atherosclerosis at an early stage that can be effective in reducing the associated cardiac morbidity and mortality.