Atherosclerosis and body build.

In a large autopsy series the relation between various measures of body build and aortic and coronary atherosclerosis, coronary stenosis, and myocardial lesions was studied. Stature was not associated with any of these variables. Various measures of obesity all showed an association between obesity and the above-mentioned variables. Obese people were found to have more coronary atherosclerosis, coronary stenosis, and myocardial lesions than thin people, a difference that persisted, in a reduced form, when hypertensives and diabetics were excluded. When compared with the standardized average atherosclerosis group to exclude the effect of "wasting diseases", and when hypertensives and diabetics were excluded, neither the extent of atherosclerotic lesions nor the prevalence of coronary stenosis were increased in obese subjects. Obese men but not obese women, however, had more myocardial lesions, especially fresh myocardial infarction.