A Body Shape Index as a Simple Anthropometric Marker of Abdominal Obesity and Risk of Cardiovascular Events

Abstract Context A Body Shape Index (ABSI) has been reported to have associations with cardiovascular risk factors. However, there is no information on the association between ABSI and incidence of cardiovascular events. Methods We investigated the associations between ABSI and first major cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascular disease, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and nonfatal stroke) in 1857 subjects from the database of Flow-Mediated Dilation Japan registry and from Hiroshima University Vascular Function registry. Results The areas under the curves of ABSI to predict the first major cardiovascular events were superior to BMI (men: P = .032, women: P = .015) and waist circumference in women (men: P = .078, women: P = .002). The subjects were divided into 2 groups based on the cutoff value of ABSI for predicting first major cardiovascular events: a low ABSI group (0.0822 in men and 0.0814 in women) and a high ABSI group (≥0.0822 in men and ≥0.0814 in women). During a median follow-up period of 41.6 months, 56 subjects died (23 from cardiovascular causes), 16 had nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and 14 had nonfatal stroke. The Kaplan-Meier curves for first major cardiovascular events were significantly different between the 2 groups (men, P .001; women, P .001). Multivariate analysis revealed that high ABSI remained an independent predictor of first major cardiovascular events (men: hazard ratio, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.07 to 5.06; P = .033; women: hazard ratio, 8.33; 95% CI, 1.06 to 65.49; P = .044). Conclusion High ABSI is independently associated with incidence of cardiovascular events. ABSI calculation should be performed for evaluation of risk of cardiovascular events.