Body fat and its relationship with clustering of cardiovascular risk factors.
BACKGROUND
Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are the most commonly measured anthropometric parameters given their association with cardiovascular risk factors (RFs). The relationship between percentage body fat (%BF) and cardiovascular risk has not been extensively studied.


OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated %BF and its relationship with cardiometabolic RFs in healthy subjects and compared these findings with the relationship between BMI/ WC and cardiovascular RFs.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of 99 males and 83 females (mean age 38 ± 10 years) evaluated in a preventive cardiology program. All subjects completed a survey about RFs and lifestyle habits. Anthropometric parameters, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting lipid profile, and blood glucose were collected. Body fat was determined using four skinfold measurements. Fat mass index (FMI) was also calculated.


RESULTS
Percentage body fat was significantly and directly associated with total cholesterol (R(2)=0.11), triglycerides (R(2)=0.14), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (R(2)=0.16), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (R(2)=0.24), fasting blood glucose (R(2)=0.16), SBP (R(2)=0.22), and DBP (R(2)=0.13) (p<0.001 for all) and inversely related to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (R(2)=0.32; p<0.001). When the models of %BF, FMI, WC, and BMI were compared, all of them were significantly related to the same cardiometabolic RFs and the clustering of them.


CONCLUSIONS
Percentage body fat and FMI were significantly associated with biochemical variables and to the clustering of RFs. However, these associations were similar but not better than WC and BMI.
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Giovanna
G
Valentino
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Maria Jose
MJ
Bustamante
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Lorena
L
Orellana
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Veronica
V
Krämer
Escuela de Nutrición y Dietética, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad San Sebastián. Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Samuel
S
Durán
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Marcela
M
Adasme
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Alejandra
A
Salazar
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Camila
C
Ibara
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Marcelo
M
Fernández
Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad de la Serena, La Serena, Chile.. giovanna.valentino@gmail.com.
Carlos
C
Navarrete
División de Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Facultad de Medicina, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago, Chile.. macevedo@med.puc.cl.
Monica
M
Acevedo
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult