Optimal waist:height ratio cut-off point for cardiometabolic risk factors in Turkish adults.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the optimal waist:height ratio (WHtR) cut-off point that discriminates cardiometabolic risk factors in Turkish adults.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study. Hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome score >or=2 (presence of two or more metabolic syndrome components except for waist circumference) and at least one risk factor (diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidaemia) were categorical outcome variables. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were prepared by plotting 1 - specificity on the x-axis and sensitivity on the y-axis. The WHtR value that had the highest Youden index was selected as the optimal cut-off point for each cardiometabolic risk factor (Youden index = sensitivity + specificity - 1).


METHODS
Turkey, 2003.


METHODS
Adults (1121 women and 571 men) aged 18 years and over were examined.


RESULTS
Analysis of ROC coordinate tables showed that the optimal cut-off value ranged between 0.55 and 0.60 and was almost equal between men and women. The sensitivities of the identified cut-offs were between 0.63 and 0.81, the specificities were between 0.42 and 0.71 and the accuracies were between 0.65 and 0.73, for men and women. The cut-off point of 0.59 was the most frequently identified value for discrimination of the studied cardiometabolic risk factors. Subjects classified as having WHtR >or= 0.59 had significantly higher age and sociodemographic multivariable-adjusted odds ratios for cardiometabolic risk factors than subjects with WHtR < 0.59, except for diabetes in men.


CONCLUSIONS
We show that the optimal WHtR cut-off point to discriminate cardiometabolic risk factors is 0.59 in Turkish adults.
Can
Ahmet Selçuk
AS
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Private Gayrettepe Florence Nightingale Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. selcukcan@endokrinoloji.com
Yildiz
Emine Akal
EA
Samur
Gülhan
G
Rakicioğlu
Neslişah
N
Pekcan
Gülden
G
Ozbayrakçi
Sinan
S
Palaoğlu
K Erhan
KE
Gönen
Mithat
M
Bersot
Thomas P
TP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications*; D050171:Dyslipidemias / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult