Background: The relationship between body fat distribution and cardiovascular risk factors in obese  population may be different from general population. This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship  between WHR and cardiovascular risk factors in overweight and obese women and to determine a point of WHR above which the chance of having cardiovascular risk factors increased.

 Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 2892 women age 20-78 years with BMfc 25 were  included. Anthropometric indices were measured and BMI and WHR were calculated. Blood pressure was  evaluated according to standard protocols. Subjects with SBP or DBP fell at or above levels defined as  hypertensive, were placed in the high-risk category. Biochemical indices were measured in the fasting state.  Subjects with FBS> 110 mg/dl were placed in the high-risk category. Women were, also, placed in high-risk category if their serum lipid concentrations, except HDL, were at or above the 75^th percentile of NHANES III. For HDL, however, subjects were placed in the high-risk category if values were at or below the 25 percentile of NHANES III. Women were divided into quartiles based on their WHR. Quartile 1 (<0.8),

 quartile 2 (0.8-<0.84), quartile 3 (0.84-<0.9), and quartile 4 (> 0.9).

 Results: Quartile 4 had higher age, BMI and waist circumference than other quartiles. Low proportion of women with BMk35 was in quartile 1 and high proportion in quartile 4. Significant increasing trend was observed for odds ratio of having low HDL-C, high TG, high TC/HDL-C and high FBS with increasing  WHR. Controlling for BMI and simultaneous adjusting for confounding variables had no effect on this trend. Such trend was not seen in other indices. Odds ratio for having high LDL and high SBP was not significant in any WHR quartiles. Women placed in quartile 2,3 and 4 had higher chance of having high diastolic blood  pressure relative to quartile 1 (1.3, 1,5 and 1.6 times, respectively). Simultaneous controlling for confounding variables caused this chance to be disappeared.

 Conclusion: Results have revealed that in overweight and obese women, chance of having cardiovascular  risk factors increased at WHR> 0.8, like normal women.