Waist-to-Height Ratio Is the Best Anthropometric Index in Association with Adverse Cardiorenal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Visceral obesity is a potent risk factor for both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and myocardial infarction (MI) in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients (T2DM). Short stature is also associated with higher risk for either coronary or kidney diseases. Thus, the aim of our study was to investigate the association of the frequency of cardiorenal complications with waist-to-height index (W/Ht) in T2DM. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study where 958 T2DM patients were studied. Subjects with cardiorenal disease (CRD) were defined as those with both kidney dysfunction (KD) and MI. RESULTS: We found a significant excess of MI in patients with KD as compared to those without KD (28 vs. 14%, p < 0.0001). Interestingly, among the commonly used indices of obesity, only W/Ht and BMI were significantly associated with CRD risk. Moreover, only the W/Ht index (but neither BMI nor WC) was significantly associated with the risks for every component of CRD. Lastly, in the multivariate logistic regression analysis, W/Ht proved superior to the other traditional factors associated with risk for CRD. CONCLUSIONS: Our study in a large cohort of subjects demonstrated that a higher W/Ht index is the best anthropometric measure associated with adverse CRD outcomes of T2DM patients.