Abstract
BACKGROUND: The association between the Metabolically Healthy Obese (MHO) phenotype in the absence of metabolic syndrome and subsequent cardiovascular disease remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We examined the association between MHO and CVD risk in young Iranian women. METHODS: We studied 183 women aged 20-35 years from a population of 308 candidates. We classified participants into 4 phenotypes. We measured body composition, blood pressure, and biochemical factors in all participants. RESULTS: The Metabolically Healthy Normal Weight (MHNW) and Normal Weight Obese (NWO) phenotypes had no statistical differences in any biochemistry variables. FBS, TG, LDL/HDL, Cholesterol/HDL, hs-CRP, and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) were all higher in Metabolically Unhealthy Obese (MUO) than MHO individuals, whereas HDL was higher in MHO than in MUO individuals. LDL/HDL and hs-CRP were higher in MHO participants than MHNW participants, whereas HDL-c was higher in MHNW than MHO. CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study demonstrate that young women displaying the MHO phenotype have a favorable metabolic profile as shown by lower FBS, TG, LDL-c/HDL, Cho/HDL, hs-CRP, and AIP and higher HDL levels than the MUO phenotype. However, MHO individuals were still at greater risk of CVD incidence (lower HDL and higher hs-CRP levels) than MHNW individuals.