The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether physically active individuals would have a smaller waist circumference within a body mass index (BMI) category compared to inactive individuals and if these variables independently contributed to coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. The study sample was derived from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Norfolk study including 25,639 men and women aged 45 to 79 years. It was observed that physically inactive men and women were characterized by higher waist circumference than active individuals after controlling for BMI. Moreover, sedentary individuals with an elevated waist circumference were at increased risk for future CHD in men (hazard ratio=1.74; 95% CI: 1.34-2.27) and women (hazard ratio=4.00; 95% CI: 2.04-7.86) after adjusting for relevant confounding factors in each sex. Associations between body composition, physical activity and CHD risk were sex-specific, as the relative risk associated with abdominal obesity and inactivity was much stronger in women than in men. These results suggest that physical activity and abdominal obesity are both independently associated with an increased risk of future CHD.
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