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Identification of the Best Anthropometric Index for Predicting the 10-Year Cardiovascular Disease in Southwest China: A Large Single-Center, Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Introduction

This population-based cross-sectional study aimed to identify the best predictor of the 10-year cardiovascular (CV) high risk among old and new anthropometric indices.

Methods

We investigated 76,915 adults older than 18 years of age living in southwest China. Ten obesity indices were calculated. The 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk was estimated using the Framingham risk score. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to assess the ability of the anthropometric index to predict the 10-year high risk of CVD events.

Results

The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) had the highest area under the curve (AUC) value (0.711; sensitivity: 62.22%, specificity: 42.73%) in men, while the body fat index (BAI) had the lowest AUC value (0.624, sensitivity: 49.07%, specificity: 54.84%). The waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and the body roundness index (BRI) showed the highest AUC value (0.751, sensitivity: 39.24%, 39.83%, specificity: 75.68%, 68.59%) in women, while the BAI showed the lowest AUC value (0.671, sensitivity: 53.15%, specificity: 57.14%).

Conclusions

The WHR was the best anthropometric measure for assessing the 10-year high risk of CVD in men, while the WHtR and BRI were the best measures for women. In men, the WHR should be < 0.88, and in women, the WHtR should be < 0.502 or the BRI should be < 3.41.

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Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from health management center but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of health management center.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the support from the staff in Health Management Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University for their generous time and support.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Sichuan province health department (Grant No. Chuanganyan2012-111), the Youth Teacher Research Startup Fund of Sichuan University (2016SCU11016), the horizontal scientific research project of West China hospital (HX20110248) and the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province (Grant Nos. 2017RZ0046, 2018SZ0087).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Management Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Qinqin Wu, Fan Zhang, Ruicen Li, Wenyu Li & Dan Gou

  2. Department of Cardiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No.37 Guoxue Road, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    Lin Wang

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  1. Qinqin Wu
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  2. Fan Zhang
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  3. Ruicen Li
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  4. Wenyu Li
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Contributions

QW and LW conceived the experiment(s), FZ; RL; WL; DG conducted the experiment(s), QW and LW analyzed the results. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lin Wang.

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Wu, Q., Zhang, F., Li, R. et al. Identification of the Best Anthropometric Index for Predicting the 10-Year Cardiovascular Disease in Southwest China: A Large Single-Center, Cross-Sectional Study. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 29, 417–428 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-022-00528-3

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