title: Effect of genetic and non-genetic factors, including aging, on waist circumference and BMI, and inter-indicator differences in risk assessment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of genetic and non-genetic factors on indicators derived from waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) as well as inter-indicator differences in risk assessment age-related diseases including diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease and liver cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Height, weight and WC were measured in 100 families (students and their two parents), 41 subjects with regular physical exercise routines, and 170 patients with diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease or liver cancer. The BMI, waist-height ratio (WHtR) and waist circumference density index (WCDI) were calculated for each subject.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BMI was less affected by genetic factors, while WHtR and WCDI were greatly affected by genetic factors as revealed using multiple regression analysis. BMI, WHtR and WCDI were all sensitive to physical exercise according to ROC analysis; among these factors, the most sensitive indicator was WHtR. However, ROC analysis demonstrated that WCDI was more effective than BMI and WHtR for assessing the risk of three diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WCDI more accurately reflects the roles of both genetic and non-genetic factors, including aging, which can better predict disease.
authors.affiliation: College of Medical Laboratory, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Ge
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.affiliation: College of Medical Laboratory, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China.
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shong
authors.affiliation: College of Medical Laboratory, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China. Electronic address: liuhui60@sina.com.
authors.forename: Liu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Abdominal obesity; Genetic; Geriatric disease