Optimal waist:height ratio cut-off point for cardiometabolic risk factors in Turkish adults

• Published in: Public health nutrition 2010-04, Vol.13 (4), p.488-495
• Main Authors: Selçuk Can, Ahmet, Akal Yıldız, Emine, Samur, Gülhan, Rakıcıoğlu, Neslişah, Pekcan, Gülden, Özbayrakçı, Sinan, Palaoğlu, K Erhan, Gönen, Mithat, Bersot, Thomas P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; anthropometric measurements; Anthropometry; Assessment and methodology; Blood pressure; Body Mass Index; Cardiometabolic risk factors; cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Cholesterol; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - complications; Dyslipidemias - complications; Exercise; Fasting; Female; Glucose; Health risks; height; High density lipoprotein; human diseases; human nutrition; Humans; hyperlipidemia; Hypertension; Hypertension - complications; Insulin resistance; Male; Men; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Metabolic Syndrome - complications; Middle Aged; Mortality; nutritional status; Prevalence; reference standards; Reference Values; Risk Factors; ROC Curve; Sex Factors; Turkey - epidemiology; Variables; Waist Circumference; Waist:height ratio; Women; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980009991637

To identify the optimal waist:height ratio (WHtR) cut-off point that discriminates cardiometabolic risk factors in Turkish adults. Cross-sectional study. Hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome score >or=2 (presence of two or more metabolic syndrome components except for waist circumference) and at least one risk factor (diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidaemia) were categorical outcome variables. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were prepared by plotting 1 - specificity on the x-axis and sensitivity on the y-axis. The WHtR value that had the highest Youden index was selected as the optimal cut-off point for each cardiometabolic risk factor (Youden index = sensitivity + specificity - 1). Turkey, 2003. Adults (1121 women and 571 men) aged 18 years and over were examined. Analysis of ROC coordinate tables showed that the optimal cut-off value ranged between 0.55 and 0.60 and was almost equal between men and women. The sensitivities of the identified cut-offs were between 0.63 and 0.81, the specificities were between 0.42 and 0.71 and the accuracies were between 0.65 and 0.73, for men and women. The cut-off point of 0.59 was the most frequently identified value for discrimination of the studied cardiometabolic risk factors. Subjects classified as having WHtR >or= 0.59 had significantly higher age and sociodemographic multivariable-adjusted odds ratios for cardiometabolic risk factors than subjects with WHtR < 0.59, except for diabetes in men. We show that the optimal WHtR cut-off point to discriminate cardiometabolic risk factors is 0.59 in Turkish adults.