title: Waist circumference cutoff and its importance for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians: A preliminary study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is inconsistency in accepting waist circumference (WC) as mandatory and also regarding its significance for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS) for different populations.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the association of individual parameters of MetS with WC cutoffs suitable for South Asian Indians.
  
  
  METHODS
  From an ongoing hospital-based study on MetS as per the criteria of diagnosis of modified NCEP ATP III, 713 subjects having a minimum three of the four parameters, i.e., dyslipidemia [low high density lipoprotein (HDL), high triglycerides], dysglycemia and hypertension, without regard to cutoffs of WC, were included in the present study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis of WC cut-off points for males was 90 cm with a sensitivity and specificity of 71% and 96%, respectively, and for females was 85 cm with a sensitivity and specificity of 86% and 93%, respectively, associated with the risk factors of MetS. Multiple logistic regression analysis for low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration of ≥3.38 mmol/l showed an odds ratio of 5.03 (95% CI = 1.29-19.5) in males and 3.17 (95% CI = 1.14-8.76) in females which was statistically significant (P < 0.02); in addition to higher WC, higher level of triglyceride (P ≤ 0.0001) and lower level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (P ≤ 0.02) were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that WC of 90 cm in males and 85 cm in females should be a mandatory criterion of MetS in our subset of population. LDL may be considered one of the components of MetS along with the currently defined WC cutoffs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Daliparthy Devi
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Pratyush
authors.forename: Shalbha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Surya Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Singh