Waist-to-height ratio predicts adverse CV risk profile in young adults

29 June 2009

MedWire News: A high waist-to-height ratio is significantly predictive of adverse cardiovascular (CV) risk in normal-weight younger adults, report researchers from the Bogalusa Heart Study.

A high waist-to-height ratio has been linked to increased CV disease risk in older adults, as previously reported by MedWire News.

But, “data on the utility of the waist-to-height ratio in detecting central obesity and related CV risk among normal-weight younger adults are scant,” say Gerald Berenson (Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) and colleagues.

The researchers assessed the use of the waist-to-height ratio for determining CV risk in 639 adults aged 20–44 years from the Bogalusa Heart Study. All the participants had a normal body mass index (BMI) of between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m².

Individuals with a waist-to-height ratio of 0.5 or more were considered to have central obesity normal weight (n=65), whereas those with a lower ratio served as controls (n=574).

Reporting in the American Journal of Cardiology, the authors write that participants with central obesity had higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, triglycerides, triglyceride-to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, insulin levels, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, uric acid levels, and liver function enzymes than the control group.

Following multivariate analysis adjusting for various factors, the central obesity group was 1.9-, 2.2-, 2.9-, and 2.5-fold more likely to have significantly adverse levels of arterial pressure, the triglyceride-to-HDL cholesterol ratio, HOMA-IR, and CRP, respectively, than the control group.

Using carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) as a subclinical measure of CV disease, the researchers found that average carotid IMT was significantly greater in the central obesity group than the control group at 0.76 versus 0.71 mm.

“The results of the present study have underscored the utility of the waist-to-height ratio in detecting asymptomatic normal-weight younger adults with central obesity and related adverse cardiometabolic risk factors and their burden on subclinical atherosclerosis,” conclude Berenson et al.

“These observations have implications for preventive cardiology,” they add.

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Am J Cardiol 2009; Advance online publication