Background: Obesity increases the risk of developing atherosclerotic disease. There have been many reports on brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a valid marker of arterial stiffness, and the development of atherosclerotic disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI), a marker of general obesity, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), a marker of abdominal obesity, and baPWV in general population. Methods: Study subjects were 1,474 Koreans in a rural area in Daegu city, Korea. They were enrolled in the 2003 Daegu City Hypertension-Diabetes Survey from August to November 2003 for a cohort study. Of these patients, 1,458 subjects underwent baPWV measurement and 1,245 subjects with no past history of cardiovascular disease were finally analyzed in this study. Results: Subjects were classified into four groups according to BMI quartiles (Q1 <21.3kg/m2 (n=317); Q2 21.3-23.4kg/m2 (n=312); Q3 23.5-25.4kg/m2 (n=294); Q4 ���25.5kg/m2 (n=322)). Subjects with higher BMI were younger and more frequently have hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome. However, there was no significant difference in baPWV across BMI quartiles (p for trend = 0.260). Subjects were also classified into 3 groups according to WHR tertiles by gender (T1 <0.89, T2 0.89-0.93, and T3 >0.93 in men; T1 <0.85, T2 0.85-0.90, and T3 >0.90 in female). There were significant increases in baPWV across the tertiles of WHR in men (p=0.031) and women (p=0.004). Subjects with higher WHR more frequently had higher BMI, higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, higher pulse pressure, higher mean arterial pressure, higher fasting glucose levels, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome. In Multiple linear regression analysis, log-transformed PWV increased significantly with increasing WHR; PWV increased by 0.028 cm/sec (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.008-0.049) in the third compared to the first tertiles of WHR in men and 0.062 cm/sec (95%CI 0.047-0.078) in women In the crude model. In the fully adjusted model, the PWV increased by 0.024 cm/sec (95%CI 0.008-0.04) in the third tertile compared to first tertile in men and 0.013 cm/sec (95%CI 0.002-0.023) in women. Conclusions: This study suggests that abdominal obesity, but not general obesity is associated with arterial stiffness in general population.