Abdominal obesity is a common finding in normal and overweight subjects of Chile and is associated with increased frequency of cardiometabolic risk factors

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 26;13(3):e0194644. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194644. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Abdominal obesity (AO) is associated with elevated risk for cardiovascular diseases; however, this association is less clear for non-obese people. We estimated the association of AO and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and disease in non-obese adult individuals from Chile.

Subjects/methods: 5248 adults (15 years of age or older) of both sexes from the Chilean National Health Survey (October 2009 -September 2010, response rate 85%.) were included. Information on myocardial infarction and stroke was self-reported. BMI, waist circumference (WC), arterial pressure, plasma glucose, and cholesterol levels were measured. Predictive accuracy of WC was evaluated by area under curve of receiver operating characteristic analysis and cut off points were established by Youden Index. Relationship between AO and CVRF was analyzed by Chi-squared tests.

Results: Normal weight/overweight/obesity were present in 34.4%/45.2%/18.1% of men and 33.4%/33.6%/27.5% of women. Predictive accuracy of WC to identify at least one CVRF was 0.70/0.67 and optimal cutoff points for WC in non-obese subjects were 91/83 cm in men/women, respectively. AO was present in 98.2%/99.1% of obese, 70.5%/77.4% of overweight and 12.4%/16.4% of normal weight men/women. AO was associated with increased frequency of CVRF in overweight men (6/8 and stroke) and women (4/8) and higher frequency in normal weight men (8/8 and myocardial infarction/stroke) and women (6/8 and myocardial infarction).

Conclusions: WC cutoff points calculated for non-obese chilean population discriminate more differences in CVRF in normal weight woman. AO significantly increases the frequency of CVRF and diseases in overweight and especially normal weight individuals. WC can be used as a low cost, feasible and reproducible predictor for CVRF in non-obese individuals in most clinical settings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Area Under Curve
  • Blood Glucose / analysis
  • Body Mass Index
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / etiology*
  • Chile
  • Cholesterol / blood
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Obesity, Abdominal / complications*
  • Obesity, Abdominal / diagnosis
  • Overweight / complications*
  • Overweight / diagnosis
  • ROC Curve
  • Risk Factors
  • Waist Circumference

Substances

  • Blood Glucose
  • Cholesterol

Grants and funding

Funded by Comision Nacional de Ciencia y tecnología, Fondecyt grant 1141134 http://www.conicyt.cl/fondecyt/.