Simple anthropometric indexes and cardiovascular risk factors in Chinese

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a major public health problem due to its associations with multiple cardiovascular risk factors. Although there are sophisticated methods, such as imaging, to document total body fat and its distributions, anthropometric measurements remain important in clinical practice. We examined the relationships between cardiovascular risk factors and the three commonest anthropometric measurements for obesity, body mass index (BMI), waist±hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference (WC), in Hong Kong Chinese subjects. DESIGN AND SETTING: The data are obtained from a prevalence survey for glucose intolerance and lipid abnormality in a representative Hong Kong Chinese working population. All employees from a public utility company and a regional hospital were invited to participate. SUBJECTS: There were 1513 subjects (910 men and 603 women, mean age AE s.e.m.: 37.5 AE 0.2 y). All of them had no signi®cant past medical history. MEASUREMENTS: BMI, WHR and WC of the 1513 subjects were assessed for their relationships with various cardiovascular risk factors. These include blood pressure, fasting and 2 h plasma glucose and insulin, glycated haemoglobin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high density and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and urine albumin concentration. RESULTS: After age adjustment, all three anthropometric indexes were signi®cantly correlated with the major cardiovascular risk factors in both men and women. When BMI, WHR and WC were analysed according to quartiles, there was a signi®cant trend for blood pressure, plasma triglyceride, fasting and 2 h plasma glucose and insulin to increase, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol to decrease, with increasing obesity after adjustment for age and smoking. Using stepwise regression analysis with the three indexes as independent variables, most of the variance in blood pressure, plasma lipid, insulin, glucose and urinary albumin concentration were explained either by WC or WHR. In women, BMI was the main explanatory variable for reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: In Hong Kong Chinese, BMI, WHR and WC provide important information in assessing cardiovascular risks. In men, central adiposity as re¯ected by WC and to some extent, WHR, explained most of the variance in blood pressure, plasma glucose, lipid, insulin and albuminuria. In women, all three indexes re¯ecting general and central obesity contribute to the variance in these risk factors.

Comparing Utility of Anthropometric Indices Based on Gender Differences in Predicting Dyslipidaemia in Healthy Adults

“…This is in agreement with Rotterdam study of Visscher et al, [32], and fieldwork done by Ko GT et al, in the Chinese men and thus validates that WC and WHR are better predictors of dyslipidemia than BMI [33]. Studies with computed tomography sections of human subjects have disclosed the fact of closer affiliation between dyslipidemia and WC which includes intra-abdominal fat [34,35].…”

Apolipoprotein B, ratio of total cholesterol to HDL-C, and blood pressure in abdominally obese white and black American women

“…33 Visceral adiposity is the component of body composition that is most highly associated with many metabolic abnormalities such as hypertension, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinaemia, hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, and high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. [34][35][36][37][38] The WC cut-point utilised for abdominal obesity is in line with the recommendation by the National Institute of Health (NIH) expert panels and others for identifying increased relative risk for obesity related comorbidities for most adults. 28,29 Elevated ApoB is the most prevalent dyslipidaemia, accounting for 45% of patients who developed IHD in the Quebec Cardiovascular Study.…”

Coexistence of maternal central adiposity and child stunting in Mexico

“…Research has identified an association between high WHR and health outcomes including: high blood pressure, 49 high insulin concentrations, 50 diabetes mellitus, 29 the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, 29,51,52 metabolic syndrome, 48 altered vascular endothelial function 28 and coronary heart disease. 53 Although the evidence linking early malnutrition to adiposity later in life is inconclusive, this study is consistent with other analyses in Latin-American populations, suggesting that the link is plausible.…”