Chinese visceral adiposity index as stronger predictor of hypertension and prehypertension in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults: A comparative analysis with conventional adiposity indices

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This study explored the link between the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) and hypertension/prehypertension in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults, comparing its predictive accuracy with other adiposity indices. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data from Nanjing's 2017-2018 chronic disease surveillance was analyzed for individuals over 45, using a generalized linear mixed model and ROC curves to assess the impact of CVAI and other indices. After adjusting for selected covariates, the results showed that, with the lowest group as the reference, the ORs of risk of hypertension were 1.536, 2.088 and 3.391 for CVAI; 1.338, 1.845 and 2.489 for the lipid accumulation product index (LAP); 1.277, 1.465 and 1.935 for the triglyceride glucose index (TyG); 1.396, 2.287, and 3.617 for body mass index (BMI); 1.961 for waist circumference (WC); 1.915 for the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR); and 1.299 for the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), respectively. Similar results were also found in the impact of various obesity variables on prehypertension, respectively. ROC analyses indicated CVAI as the strongest predictor of hypertension and prehypertension compared to other adiposity indices. CONCLUSIONS: CVAI is significantly associated with hypertension and prehypertension, surpassing conventional indices in predictive power for these conditions in the studied demographic.