Comparison of Waist Circumference Versus Body Mass Index in Diagnosing Metabolic Syndrome and Identifying Apparently Healthy Subjects at Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

The goal of this study was to compare the impact of differences in waist circumference (WC) defined according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) and body mass index (BMI) on cardiovascular disease risk factors in 402 apparently healthy volunteers of European ancestry. Consequently, measurements were made of the WC, BMI, blood pressure, glucose, and lipid components of metabolic syndrome (MS) and insulin-mediated glucose uptake. Subjects were divided according to WC (IDF and ATP III criteria) and by normal weight, overweight, or obesity using BMI, and comparisons were made of the effect of these different indexes of adiposity on cardiova..