title: Body shape, adiposity index, and mortality in postmenopausal women: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative.
abstract: Studies evaluating the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and mortality demonstrate a U-shaped association. To expand, this study evaluated the relationship between adiposity indices, a body shape index (ABSI) and body adiposity index (BAI), and mortality in 77,505 postmenopausal women.
  
  
  
  A prospective cohort analysis was conducted in the Women's Health Initiative to ascertain the independent relationships between adiposity indices and mortality in order to inform on the clinical usefulness of alternate measures of mortality risk. ABSI (waist circumference (cm)/[BMI(2/3) × height (cm)(1/2) ]), BAI (hip circumference (cm)/[height (m)(1.5) ] - 18), weight, BMI, and waist circumference (WC) were evaluated in relation to mortality risk using adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression models.
  
  
  
  ABSI showed a linear association with mortality (HR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.28-1.47 for quintile 5 vs. 1) while BMI and BAI had U-shaped relationships with HR of 1.30; 95% CI, 1.20-1.40 for obesity II/III BMI and 1.06, 95% CI, 0.99-1.13 for BAI. Higher WC (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.13-1.29 for quintile 5 vs. 1) showed relationships similar to BMI.
  
  
  
  ABSI appears to be a clinically useful measure for estimating mortality risk, perhaps more so than BAI and BMI in postmenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion Sciences, Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: David O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Betsy C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Wertheim
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Hingle
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, Arizona, USA.|Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.|Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Bea
authors.affiliation: Depto. Nutrición Pública Y Salud, Centro De Investigación En Alimentación Y Desarrollo, Hermosillo, Mexico.|Faculty of Health Sciences & Social Welfare, University of Haifa, Hafia, Israel.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Zaslavsky
authors.affiliation: Depto. Nutrición Pública Y Salud, Centro De Investigación En Alimentación Y Desarrollo, Hermosillo, Mexico.
authors.forename: Graciela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caire-Juvera
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rohan
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Mara Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Vitolins
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Stony Brook School of Medicine, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
authors.forename: Cora E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009765:Obesity / Q000401:mortality; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D016387:Women's Health