Criteria of waist circumference according to computed tomography-measured visceral fat area and the clustering of cardiovascular risk factors.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to determine the discriminate gender-specific cutoff values of waist circumference (WC) for detecting the clustering of cardiovascular risk factors (CCRF), which reflects the intra-abdominal visceral fat area (VFA) using a large Japanese population.


RESULTS
The study population consisted of 6,736 men and women who underwent a periodic health check-up and had a computed tomography scan for VFA measurement at the PL Tokyo Health Care Center in Tokyo, Japan. The CCRF was defined according to the Japanese Committee of the Criteria for Metabolic Syndrome. The discriminate values for detecting the CCRF were tested using receiver operating characteristics analysis. The discriminate values of VFA were 103.0 cm(2) with 68.7% sensitivity and 61.8% specificity for men and 69.0 cm(2) with 80.8% sensitivity and 70.0% specificity for women. The WC values corresponding to the VFA were 89.1 cm for men and 86.3 cm for women. The discriminate values of VFA and WC were not substantially different between people with or without raised blood pressure.


CONCLUSIONS
For the early detection and management of the CCRF and VFA in the primary screening setting, the discriminate and convenient gender-specific WC criteria would be 90 cm for men and 85 cm for women.
Kashihara
Hidetoshi
H
PL Tokyo Health Care Center, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
Lee
Jung Su
JS
Kawakubo
Kiyoshi
K
Tamura
Masaki
M
Akabayashi
Akira
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000208:ethnology*