Comparison among body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and percent body fat (%BF) as anthropometric markers for the clustering of metabolic risk factors in Japanese.

Objective: To compare body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and percent body fat (%BF) as markers for the clustering of metabolic risk factors in Japanese.

Methods: Age-adjusted correlation coefficients (Rs) were calculated between the three anthropometric markers of obesity and metabolic risk factors in 2,444 men and 1,442 women among Japanese. Areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) of BMI, WC, and %BF were calculated for diagnosing the clustering of 1 or more, 2 or more, 3 or more, and 4 risk factors among increased blood pressure, impaired fasting glucose, increased triglycerides, and decreased HDL cholesterol and for the clustering of 1 or more, 2 or more, 3 or more, 4 or more, 5 or more, and 6 risk factors among the upper four risk factors as well as increased high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and increased LDL cholesterol.

Results: The Rs were not significantly different among BMI, WC, and %BF except for the difference between the R of BMI (0.217) and that of %BF (0.283) with LDL cholesterol in men (p=0.014). The AUCs of BMI, WC, and %BF for diagnosing any of the risk factor clustering patterns defined above were not significantly different in both men and women.

Conclusion: The AUCs for diagnosing the clustering of metabolic risk factors were not significantly different among BMI, WC, and %BF.