Anthropometric indicators of obesity for identifying cardiometabolic risk factors in a rural Bangladeshi population.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictive ability of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and body fat percentages (BF%) for the presence of cardiometabolic risk factors, namely type 2 diabetes (DM), hypertension (HTN), dyslipidemia and metabolic syndrome (MS).


METHODS
A total of 2293 subjects aged ≥20 years from rural Bangladesh were randomly selected in a population-based, cross-sectional survey. The association of anthropometric indicators with cardiometabolic risk conditions was assessed by using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for DM, HTN, dyslipidemia and MS.


RESULTS
Area under the curve cut-off values showed that the association of WHR, BF% and WC was higher than that for other indices for DM, HTN and MS, respectively, for both sexes, and WHtR for men and WHR for women for dyslipidemia. The ORs were highest for WHR for DM and WC for MS for both sexes, and WHtR for men and WC for women for HTN and dyslipidemia, respectively. The optimal cut-off values for obesity for the present study in men and women showed BMIs of 22 and 22.8 kg/m(2), WHRs of 0.93 and 0.87, WHtRs of 0.52 and 0.54, BF% of 21.4 and 32.4%, and WCs of 82 and 81 cm, except for MS, which were 90 for men and 80 for women.


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with BMI, measures of central obesity, particularly WHR, WC, WHtR and BF%, showed a better association with obesity-related cardiometabolic risk factors for both sexes.
Department of Community Medicine Institute of Health and Society University of Oslo Oslo Norway.
Bishwajit
B
Bhowmik
Unit of Biostatistics and Epidemiology Oslo University Hospital Oslo Norway.
Sanjida B
SB
Munir
Department of Community Medicine Institute of Health and Society University of Oslo Oslo Norway ; Executive Diabetes Care Center NHN Diabetic Association of Bangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh.
Lien M
LM
Diep
Diabetes Prevention Intervention Project Diabetic Association of Bangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh.
Tasnima
T
Siddiquee
Departments of Health Economics.
Samira H
SH
Habib
National Health Care Network Diabetic Association of Bangladesh Dhaka Bangladesh.
Mohammad A
MA
Samad
Endocrinology Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders (BIRDEM) Dhaka Bangladesh.
Abul Kalam
AK
Azad Khan
Department of Community Medicine Institute of Health and Society University of Oslo Oslo Norway.
Akhtar
A
Hussain
Anthropometric indicators; Cardiometabolic risk factors; Obesity