Accuracy and measures of association of anthropometric indexes of obesity to identify the presence of hypertension in adults: a population-based study in Southern Brazil.
OBJECTIVE
This study proposes to examine the accuracy of four anthropometric indexes of obesity to identify the presence of hypertension and assess differences in the estimation and strength of effect measures of the association between each anthropometric measure and hypertension in Brazilian adults.


METHODS
A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1,720 adults from Florianópolis, Brazil. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to identify the sensitivity and specificity of the best cutoff values for anthropometric indexes (body mass index-BMI, waist circumference-WC, waist-to height ratio-WHtR and conicity index-C-index) for prediction of hypertension. The associations between anthropometric indexes and hypertension were analyzed by Poisson regression expressed as Prevalence Ratios (95% CI) adjusted for socio-demographic variables, health behavior, height, and anthropometric indexes.


RESULTS
Of the four anthropometric indexes studied, BMI, WC, and WHtR were found to have the largest areas under the ROC curve relative to hypertension in both sexes. The cutoff values in women and men associated with presence of hypertension were BMI of 24.9 and 24.6 kg/m(2), WC of 86.2 and 89.5 cm, WHtR of 0.49 and 0.50, and C-index of 1.15 and 1.18, respectively. WC and BMI had greater magnitude of association with presence of hypertension, adjusting for socio-demographic variables, health behavior, height, and anthropometric indexes in women and men, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Anthropometric indexes provide an effective, simple, inexpensive, and non-invasive means for a first-level screening for hypertension.
Programa de Pós Graduação em Educação Física, Centro de Desportos, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Universitário Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, CEP 88010-970, Brazil. diegoaugustoss@yahoo.com.br
Diego Augusto Santos
DA
Silva
Edio Luiz
EL
Petroski
Marco Aurelio
MA
Peres
D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult