Baseline waist-to-height ratio > 0.60 significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular disease incidence (HR 1.87) compared to a ratio of 0.4-0.5 in hypertensive adults without prior CVD.
Cohort (n=4,244)
Does waist-to-height ratio predict cardiovascular disease incidence in hypertensive adults?
Waist-to-height ratio is a simple, low-cost, and superior predictor of cardiovascular disease incidence compared to BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio in hypertensive adults.
Effect estimate: HR 1.87 (95% CI 1.23-2.83)
p-value: p=0.003
BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) brings high mortality and economic burden to patients, especially in rural areas. Simple, low-cost abdominal adiposity measures may help identify individuals with increased CVD risk. It is unclear that which obesity indices is the best to predict CVD in hypertensive people. METHODS: Northeast China Rural Cardiovascular Health Study (NCRCHS) is a prospective cohort study in a general population in Northeast China. The study examined the cardiovascular health from 2013 to 2015, and follow-up captured the CVD incidence in 2018. Baseline waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip (WHR)and body mass index (BMI) were calculated and analyzed in relation to the CVD incidence. RESULTS: A total of 4244 hypertensive adults without pre-existing CVD at baseline were included in this analysis (age 35-92 years; 2108 men). Over a median follow-up of 4.66 years, a total of 290 CVD cases (6.83%) were documented during the follow-up. Baseline WHtR showed a significant positive association with CVD incidence, even after adjusting for age, sex, diabetes, drinking, smoking, SBP, DBP, Triglyceride, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TC (Hazard Ratios per SD of WHtR ranging from 1.03 to 1.31, p = 0.017). Reclassification and discrimination analyses indicated WHtR addition could improve the conventional model for predicting adverse outcomes within 4 years. Moreover, WHtR predicted the CVD incidence better than other obesity indices (BMI, WC, WHR). CONCLUSION: These findings support a positive association between WHtR and CVD incidence in CVD-free hypertensive adults. WHtR can be used to predict CVD incidence in hypertensive adults.
Zhang et al. (Wed,) conducted a cohort in Hypertension without pre-existing cardiovascular disease (n=4,244). Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) > 0.60 vs. Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) 0.40-0.50 was evaluated on Cardiovascular disease incidence (stroke or coronary heart disease) (HR 1.87, 95% CI 1.23-2.83, p=0.003). Baseline waist-to-height ratio > 0.60 significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular disease incidence (HR 1.87) compared to a ratio of 0.4-0.5 in hypertensive adults without prior CVD.