Body mass index and mortality in South Korean men resulting from cardiovascular disease: A Kangwha Cohort Study

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) with death caused by total cardiovascular disease in a long-term follow-up study. METHODS: We followed a total of 2608 men who were 55 years or older in 1985 from March 1985 through December 2001 to investigate their mortality. The hazard ratios of mortality as the result of cardiovascular disease by BMI level were estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model, adjusting for relevant covariates. RESULTS: For the group with a BMI >= 27 kg/m(2) compared with the reference group (BMI, 21.0-22.9), the adjusted hazard ratio of death resulting from total cardiovascular disease was 2.4 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-3.9) and that of death resulting from cerebrovascular disease was 3.6 (95% CI, 2.0-6.3). Observing nonsmoking subjects only, the BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2) group had a 4.6 times (95% CI, 1.8-11.8) greater risk of death attributed to total cardiovascular disease than the reference group and a 4.7 times (95% CI, 1.4-16.2) greater risk of death from cerebrovascular disease. CONCLUSION: This study defined that BMI is related to Korean male deaths caused by total cardiovascular disease. The risk of death attributed to total cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease was significantly increased in the group, with a BMI >= 27 k g/m(2). In our study, in the case of nonsmokers, low BMI was shown to be related to deaths from cardiovascular disease. Such result is different from those of previous studies.