Association between simple anthropometric indices and cardiovascular risk factors

OBJECTIVE: To identify which of the three simple anthropometric indices, bo dy mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference (WC), best predicts cardiovascular risk factors, and to determine if the associa tion between the anthropometric indices and cardiovascular risk factors var ies with gender. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional population-based survey was carri ed out during 1995 - 1996. One thousand and ten Chinese people (500 men and 510 women) aged 25 - 74 y were recruited as subjects for the study. Metabo lic profiles and anthropometric indices were measured. RESULTS: Partial correlation and co-variance analyses showed that WC exhibi ted the highest degree of association with almost all of the studied metabo lic profiles for both men and women. We observed significant gender differe nces in the association between central or general obesity with cardiovascu lar risk factors. BMI had an independent and significant association with m etabolic risks in men, but not in women, whereas WHR was more strongly corr elated with metabolic risks for women than for men. Logistic regression ana lysis further confirmed the magnitude of the association between the obesit y indices and metabolic risks. Among the studied metabolic variables, serum insulin showed the highest degree of association with the obesity indices, followed by plasma glucose, triglyceride, HDL and blood pressure. Total ch olesterol and LDL-cholesterol had a small but significant correlation with obesity. No threshold values in the relation between either the anthropomet ric indices and metabolic values, or with hypertension, diabetes and dislip idemia were observed. CONCLUSION: The association of central or general obesity and metabolic syn drome varied with gender. In addition, the useful anthropometric predictors for cardiovascular risk factors were BMI and WC for men, and WC and WHR fo r women.