A large-scale study conducted in China has revealed that the body roundness index (BRI) may be a powerful tool for predicting cardiovascular disease risk in adults over 45 years old. The research, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, analyzed data from nearly 10,000 participants in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2011 to 2020. The study found that individuals with higher BRI levels over a 6-year period had a significantly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, even when accounting for various medical, lifestyle, and demographic factors.
Compared to those in the low-stable BRI group, participants in the moderate-stable BRI group showed a 61% increase in cardiovascular disease risk, while those in the high-stable BRI group faced a staggering 163% increase. BRI, which combines measurements of waist circumference and height, is believed by some health care professionals to better reflect the proportion of body fat and visceral fat compared to the more commonly used body mass index (BMI). This study's findings suggest that BRI could be a valuable addition to cardiovascular risk assessment tools.
The research team, led by Dr. Yun Qian from Nanjing Medical University's Wuxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, analyzed BRI measurements taken between 2011 and 2016. They then tracked cardiovascular events and deaths from 2017 to 2020. During this follow-up period, 3,052 cardiovascular events were recorded, along with 894 cardiovascular deaths. Importantly, the association between higher BRI levels and increased cardiovascular risk remained significant even after accounting for factors such as blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol levels. This suggests that BRI may provide additional insight into cardiovascular risk beyond traditional risk factors.
Dr. Qian noted that the findings indicate that 6 years of moderate-to-high stable BRI appeared to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting that BRI measurements may potentially be used as a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease incidence. The study's implications are significant, given that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming nearly 20 million lives annually according to the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2024 Update. As obesity continues to be a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, tools like BRI could help healthcare providers identify at-risk individuals earlier and more accurately.
While the study provides compelling evidence for the use of BRI in cardiovascular risk assessment, it does have limitations. The research was specific to adults living in China, which may limit its generalizability to other populations. Additionally, the six-year follow-up period may be too short to fully assess long-term changes in BRI measurements. Despite these limitations, the study's findings open up new avenues for research and potential clinical applications. As Dr. Qian emphasized, more research is needed to confirm and fully understand how these results might be used to prevent cardiovascular disease.
For the general public and healthcare providers alike, this study underscores the importance of monitoring not just overall weight, but also body shape and fat distribution in assessing cardiovascular health. As research in this area continues to evolve, BRI may become an increasingly important tool in the fight against cardiovascular disease, potentially helping to save millions of lives worldwide.
