Highlights
- •In premenopausal women, all anthropometric parameters were significantly correlated with subclinical atherosclerosis.
- •In postmenopausal women, BMI had no significant correlation with subclinical atherosclerosis.
- •In postmenopausal women, WHR was superior to WC for predicting carotid atherosclerosis.
- •Therefore, body fat distribution is more important than simple obesity to predict the risk of CVD in postmenopausal women.
Abstract
Objective
Body fat distribution becomes more central after menopause. Although some studies
have identified the superiority of various anthropometric indices to assess general
health outcomes, very limited studies have compared the efficacy of body mass index
(BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) to predict subclinical
atherosclerosis according to menopausal status.
Methods
In total, 442 participants (209 premenopausal women and 233 postmenopausal women)
were prospectively enrolled from the Health Promotion Center of Korea University Guro
Hospital. We examined subclinical atherosclerosis using carotid intima-media thickness
(CIMT) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV).
Results
In premenopausal women, all anthropometric parameters such as BMI, WC and WHR were
positively correlated with baPWV and CIMT values, whereas in postmenopausal women,
only WHR was positively correlated with baPWV values (0.27, P < 0.01), and WC and WHR were positively correlated with CIMT (0.15, P < 0.05 and 0.21, P < 0.01, respectively). By receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses, WHR
was superior to the other anthropometric indices to predict carotid atherosclerosis
in postmenopausal women. Furthermore, the normal weight (BMI < 23 kg/m2) with higher WHR group had a significantly thicker CIMT when compared to the normal
weight with lower WHR group (0.76 mm vs. 0.68 mm, P < 0.01) and even the overweight subjects with BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2 (0.76 mm vs. 0.70 mm, P < 0.01) in postmenopausal women.
Conclusions
The present study shows that WHR has the best potential for predicting subclinical
atherosclerosis compared to BMI and WC in postmenopausal women.
Clinical trials number
NCT01594710.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 14, 2015
Accepted:
December 22,
2014
Received in revised form:
December 22,
2014
Received:
September 4,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Waist-to-hip ratio as an indicator of atherosclerosis among women at riskMaturitasVol. 81Issue 1
- PreviewIn a recent article in the Maturitas, Lee et al. reported that waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) had a higher potential for predicting subclinical atherosclerosis compared to other anthropometric indices including body mass index and waist circumference in postmenopausal women [1]. Their study was well designed, sufficiently powered and allowed comparisons to premenopausal women.
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