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Women with bigger waists relative to their hips face a proportionately greater risk of experiencing a heart attack than men who have a similar ‘apple shape’, new research from The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford has found.

Green apple surrounded by a measure tape

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

The study, of nearly 500,000 people who provided data to the UK Biobank, suggests that in both sexes, the waist-to-hip ratio is a better predictor of heart attacks than general obesity, as measured by weight relative to body size using the body mass index (BMI). However, the research suggests women with an ‘apple shape’ are particularly at risk.

Find out more (University of Oxford website)