Association between anthropometric measures of obesity and cardiovascular risk markers in a self-selected group of indigenous Australians.
BACKGROUND
Indigenous Australians have a high prevalence of obesity and an unacceptably high rate of cardiovascular disease.


METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 93 high-risk indigenous Australians to assess how strongly three anthropometric measures correlated with known cardiovascular risk factors.


RESULTS
Both waist circumference and body mass index were strongly associated with important risk factors. The waist : hip ratio was less useful. Waist circumference was the only measure that significantly correlated with the urine albumin creatinine ratio (rho=0.14; P=0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Measuring the waist circumference is a cheap, effective way of monitoring cardiovascular risk.
Discipline of Medicine, the Prince Charles Hospital, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. lionel.chan@uq.edu.au
Lionel C K
LC
Chan
Robert S
RS
Ware
Janine
J
Kesting
Maureen
M
Marczak
David
D
Good
Joanne T E
JT
Shaw
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric