Correlation between Waist Circumference (WC), Body Mass Index (BMI) and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Egyptians
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- Category: Vol. 80, June 2012
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Correlation between Waist Circumference (WC), Body Mass Index (BMI) and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Egyptians,EBTISSAM ZAKARIA, MARY N. RIZK and NASHWA S. GHANEM
Abstract
Introduction: Central obesity, a prominent feature of metabolic syndrome and obesity contributes to premature mortality from all causes of death. Obesity is not included in standard multivariable risk assessments because of major imperfections in its measurement.
BMI performs poorly as a predictor of death except in very large population cohorts. More recently, assessing central obesity by measuring WC is supported by data that suggest superior prediction of CVD. WC is strongly correlated with risk for DM and CVD. Evidence suggests that anthropometric measurements as BMI, WC, or waist/hip ratio (WHR) assess metabolic risk better than measurements of percentage of body fat using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The Inter-national Day for Evaluation of Abdominal obesity (IDEA) suggested that routine measurement of WC in addition to BMI is a useful clinical marker for CVD risk assessment even in patients with normal weight.
Purpose: We aimed at comparing WC to BMI in correlat-ing with the risk factors of metabolic syndrome and hence the development of the metabolic syndrome itself. We also aimed at identifying the mean cut off for WC among Egyptians.
Material: This is a cross-sectional survey of 300 Egyptians, 241 males (54.3±10.2 years) and 59 females (52.6±9.91 years).
Methods: A special questionnaire for personal data and clinical examination was used. We used International Diabetic Federation (IDF) guidelines for definitions of metabolic syndrome to compare Egyptian data with those of International ones. Anthropometric assessment was made using standardized equipment. Laboratory investigations (FBS, Cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and TG) were performed. Statistical analysis using SPSS version 17 was done.
Results: Mean WC in this Egyptian sample of people is (higher for women 87.3±15.1cm) and lower for men (84±11.5cm) than IDF data. WC negatively correlated to HDL, and positively correlated to TG, FBS, SBP and age. Conversely, BMI positively only correlated to FBS.
Conclusions: WC better correlates to metabolic syndrome parameters when compared to BMI. WC may also serve as a better anthropometric surrogate of visceral adipose tissue; hence we recommend its inclusion in standard clinical exam-ination.