title: Anthropometric parameters and their associations with cardio-metabolic risk in Chinese working population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There remains controversy regarding which of the anthropometric indicators best defines obesity. In this study, we compared the efficacy of using body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in the diagnosis of obesity and assessed their associations with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in an urban working population in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, plasma lipids, fasting and 2-hour plasma glucose (PG) levels by a 75 gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) were obtained from 2603 working Chinese who had no history of cardiovascular diseases or diabetes. Cardio-metabolic risk factors including high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and glucose intolerance were evaluated. The diagnoses of overweight and obesity were based on the WHO definitions with BMI for general obesity and WC and WHR for central obesity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on BMI, WC and WHR, there were 31.3%, 16.6%, 35.2% of the studied subjects, respectively, being overweight and 2.0%, 5.6%, 9.2% being obese. Among women but not men, more overweight and obese subjects were diagnosed using WHR and WC. The number of cardio-metabolic risks was higher by WC criterion than BMI and WHR in the whole group (p <0.05) and female subjects (p <0.01). Comparing the three anthropometric indexes predicting hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and multiple cardio-metabolic risks, for women, it was WC having the largest areas under ROC curves (0.759, 0.746, 0.701 and 0.773 respectively); while in men, it was WC for hypertension, WHR for hyperglycemia, BMI for dyslipidemia and WC for multiple cardio-metabolic risks (areas under ROC curves were 0.658, 0.686, 0.618 and 0.695 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among Chinese working population, the need of lower cutoff values to define overweight and obesity were observed. Central obesity indicator (WC) is the preferred measure to predict the presence of cardio-metabolic risk in Chinese female subjects.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Qinlin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Liubao
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Gary T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Yongzhen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Haidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Care and Research Center, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China ; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Jiangsu Province Institute of Geriatrics, 30 Luojia Road, Nanjing, 210024 China.
authors.forename: Rongwen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bian
keywords: Body mass index; Cardio-metabolic risks; Obesity; Waist circumference; Waist-to-hip ratio