Background

Obesity is becoming an increasing public health problem. Weight gain in adults causes increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and mortality. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) change on cardiovascular risk factors in Korean men.

Methods
This study subjects consisted of 1,169 people, aged 20∼71 y at baseline year who had undergone health examinations 2 times for average 8-year period. Height, weight, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-C, fasting plasma glucose, and urate were measured. Smoking status, alcohol drinking, and exercise were assessed through self-questionnaire.

Results
The baseline mean age was 43.1±6.7 year, the mean weight was 66.8±5.2 kg, and the mean BMI was 23.3±2.5kg/m². BMI significantly increased by 0.9±0.04 kg/m² the during 8-year period. An increase of 1 kg/m² in BMI was significantly associated with increase of blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-C, and urate, and decrease of HDL-C. The risk of cardiovascular diseases was increased with more weight gain. Compared with the lowest quintile of BMI change, the adjusted relative risk of the highest quintile of BMI change for hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-C, and hyperuricemia were 5.59 (95% CI: 1.19∼26.36), 3.24 (95% CI: 1.53∼6.88), 5.16 (95% CI: 2.27∼11.77), and 2.18 (95% CI: 1.17∼4.06), respectively. The adjusted relative risk for cardiovascular disease tended to increase according to BMI increase (P for trend＜0.0001).

Conclusion
The increase of BMI was significantly associated with worsening of cardiovascular risk factors in Korean men.