Relationship between measures of central and general adiposity with aortic stiffness in the general population

Jun 27, 2014Atherosclerosis

How belly fat and overall body fat relate to aortic stiffness in the general population

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Abstract

In a study of 1,031 individuals, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) showed the strongest association with aortic stiffness.

Waist circumference (WC) and WHtR were more strongly linked to aortic stiffness than body mass index (BMI) in both men and women.
Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was more strongly associated with aortic stiffness only in women.
WHtR exhibited a closer relationship with aortic stiffness compared to WHR.
These associations remained significant even after adjusting for other risk factors.
WHtR provided the greatest additional predictive value regarding aortic stiffness beyond BMI.

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OBJECTIVE: Increased aortic stiffness may be one of the mechanisms by which obesity increases cardiovascular risk independently of traditional risk factors. While body mass index (BMI) is generally used to define excess adiposity, several studies have suggested that measures of central obesity may be better predictors of cardiovascular risk. However, data comparing the association between several measures of central and general obesity with aortic stiffness in the general population are inconclusive.

METHODS: In 1031 individuals (age 53 ± 13 years, 45% men) without manifest cardiovascular disease randomly selected from population, we tested the association between parameters of central obesity (waist circumference - WC, waist-to-hip-ratio - WHR, waist-to-height ratio - WHtR) and general obesity (BMI) with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV).

RESULTS: In univariate analysis, WC and WHtR were more strongly associated with cfPWV than BMI in both genders, while WHR showed a stronger association with cfPWV only in women. WHtR was more closely associated with cfPVW than WHR. This difference between obesity measures remained after multivariate adjustment. When the fully adjusted hierarchical regression was used, among central obesity measures, WHtR had the largest additive value on top of BMI, while there was no additive value of BMI on top of WHtR.

CONCLUSION: Central obesity parameters are more closely associated with aortic stiffness than BMI. Of central adiposity measures, WHtR has the strongest association with aortic stiffness beyond body mass index and cardiovascular risk factors. Our results suggest that WHtR may be the best anthropometric measure of excess adiposity in the general population.

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Relationship between measures of central and general adiposity with aortic stiffness in the general population

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