Diagnostic performance of different anthropometric indices among Iranian adolescents for intima media thickness in early adulthood: A prospective study and literature review

Background There is debate regarding which anthropometric indices is the most appropriate predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among adolescents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in adolescents with high carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in early adulthood, as the surrogate marker of CVD in a cohort study. Methods A total of 875 Iranian adolescents (female = 421) aged 10–17 years old were entered the study. The cIMT was measured in early adulthood (20–38 years old) after 18.2 (median) years of follow-up and defined as > 90th percentile for sex and age groups. The gender specific association between a 1-SD increase in each anthropometric measures with high cIMT was examined using multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, smoking, family history of CVD, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and fasting blood sugar. In the multivariable analysis, the interaction between sex and age groups with anthropometric measures were significant (all p -values < 0.05). Results Among males, all anthropometric measures including BMI, WC, WHR, and WHtR were associated with high cIMT; the corresponding odds ratios were 1.43 (1.05–1.94), 1.63 (1.22–2.19), 1.33 (1.03–1.71), and 1.41 (1.07–1.87), respectively. However, after considering the related adulthood anthropometric measurements, the association remained significant for WC 1.48 (1.04–2.10) and WHR [1.28 (0.99–1.66), P = 0.06]. Moreover, among early adolescent boys aged 10–14 years, all of the anthropometric measures were significantly associated with high cIMT in the multivariate analysis that included the related adulthood anthropometric measures. The area under the curve (AUC) for the anthropometric measurements among males ranged from 0.576 for WHtR up to 0.632 for WC, without any superiority between them. Among females, only in linear regression analysis, a significant association were found between the higher value of WC and WHtR with cIMT measurement in adulthood; however, the risk reached to null after considering adult anthropometric measures. Conclusion General and central obesity measures were significantly associated with high cIMT only among Iranian male adolescents, the relationship that were more prominent among pre-pubertal males.