Association Strength of Three Adiposity Measures with Autonomic Nervous System Function in Apparently Healthy Employees.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of different measures of central (abdominal) and overall adiposity with autonomic nervous system (ANS) function, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), in apparently healthy human adults.


METHODS
Cross-sectional data of 8,538 participants (20% female, age: 41 ± 11 years, body mass index (BMI): 24 ± 4 kg/m2, waist circumference (WC): 91 ± 12 cm, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR): 0.45 ± 0.08) were available for analysis.


RESULTS
All measures of adiposity were inversely correlated with vagally-mediated HRV indexed by RMSSD (all p<0.001). Strongest associations were found with WC and RMSSD (r = -0.29). Associations were stronger in males (WC r = -0.32) than in females (WC r = -0.23). Partial correlations revealed the same pattern for RMSSD (WC all pcc = -0.12 p<0.001; WC male pcc = -0.14 p<0.001; WC female pcc = -0.06 p<0.05). Correlation strength of BMI and WHtR with RMSSD were similar and significantly weaker compared to WC (p < .001) in unadjusted analysis. Overall, nonparametric Kendall's τb led to the same conclusions.


CONCLUSIONS
The present data supports previous findings, that HRV is related to measures of adiposity in healthy individuals. In line with previous research, we found that WC is more strongly related to measures of HRV, indicating that WC best captures adiposity related risk.
J. Koenig, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, koenig.393@osu.edu.
J
J
Koenig
B G
BG
Windham
L
L
Ferrucci
D
D
Sonntag
J E
JE
Fischer
J F
JF
Thayer
M N
MN
Jarczok
D050154:Adiposity; D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D065927:Waist-Height Ratio