Cardiovascular disease risk assessment with waist-to-height ratio and body mass index

ObjectiveTo examine the efficacy of waist-to-height ratio(WHtR) combined with body mass index(BMI) in prediction of cardiovascular diseases risk and to provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.MethodsMedical physical examination records of 1 327 staff in a university in 2010 were collected.WHtR categories(<0.5 and ≥0.5 for non-central obesity and central obesity) were further stratified by BMI categories(<24.0 kg/m²,24.0-27.9 kg/m²,and ≥28.0 kg/m² for normal,overweight,and obesity).Prevalences of cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension,hyperglycemia,dyslipidemia,and metabolic syndrome(MS) were compared among the participants of different subgroups.ResultsOf the participants with normal BMI,22.8% could be classified as central obesity based on WHtR,while of those with the WHtR for non-central obesity,15.0% could be classified as overweight or obesity according to categories of BMI.The results of logistic regression analyses showed that the odds ratios(ORs) for hypertension,hyperglycemia,dyslipidemia,and MS(1.63,1.43,1.45,and 3.27) estimated based on WHtR score were greater than those(1.31,1.19,1.28,and 1.74) according to BMI score.Among the participants having normal BMI,those with the WHtR of ≥0.5 had increased risks of hypertension,dyslipidemia,and MS,with the ORs of 1.68,2.08,and 20.10,compared to the participants with the WHtR of <0.5.Among the overweight participants categorized based on BMI,the ORs of hyperglycemia and MS were 2.88 and 9.25 for those with the WHtR of <0.5 and the ORs of hypertension,hyperglycemia,dyslipidemia,and MS were 2.57,3.09,2.94 and 61.70 for those with the WHtR of ≥0.5;among the obesity participants categorized based on BMI,the ORs of hypertension,hyperglycemia,dyslipidemia,and MS were 5.94,3.33,4.91,and 183.33 for those with the WHtR of ≥0.5.ConclusionWHtR is more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risks than BMI,and the combined application of WHtR and BMI can indentify populations at high-risk of cardiovascular disease efficiently.