The relationship between obesity and degree of arteriosclerosis. New autopsy findings.

The degree of arteriosclerotic changes in the aorta and major vessels was inversely related to obesity (P less than 0.05) in an unselected series of 300 autopsies on subjects older than 50 years who had no hypertensive diseases. In addition, out of 11 subjects with very severe obesity, 9 showed no arteriosclerosis, and only 2 showed mild arteriosclerosis.