Association Between Anthropometric Indices and Nonanthropometric Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Saudi Adults

Jawaher Al-Ahmadi; Sumia Enani; Suhad Bahijri; Rajaa Al-Raddadi; Hanan Jambi; Basmah Eldakhakhny; Anwar Borai; Ghada Ajabnoor; Jaakko Tuomilehto

doi:10.1210/jendso/bvac055

Association Between Anthropometric Indices and Nonanthropometric Components of Metabolic Syndrome in Saudi Adults

J Endocr Soc. 2022 Apr 4;6(6):bvac055. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvac055. eCollection 2022 Jun 1.

Authors

Jawaher Al-Ahmadi^{1

2

3}, Sumia Enani^{1

2

4}, Suhad Bahijri^{1

2

5}, Rajaa Al-Raddadi^{1

2

6}, Hanan Jambi^{1

4}, Basmah Eldakhakhny^{1

2

5}, Anwar Borai^{1

7}, Ghada Ajabnoor^{1

2

5}, Jaakko Tuomilehto^{1

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Saudi Diabetes Research Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 3270, Saudi Arabia.
² Food, Nutrition and Lifestyle Research Unit, King Fahd for Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 22252, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences and Design, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 3270, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 22252, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 22252, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz, University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Jeddah 22384, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
⁹ Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract

Context: Waist circumference (WC) is used in screening for metabolic syndrome (MetS) based on its association with cardiometabolic risk. This might apply differently in ethnically different populations. Associations with other measures are also unclear.

Objective: This work aimed to investigate the association between neck circumference (NC), WC, WC:hip circumference, WC:height (WC:Ht), NC:Ht, fat percentage, body mass index (BMI), conicity index, abdominal volume index, and weight-adjusted waist index with nonanthropometric components of MetS in nondiabetic Saudi adults.

Methods: This cross-sectional study took place in public health centers in Jeddah, comprising 1365 Saudi adults (772 men and 593 women) aged 18 years or older not previously diagnosed with diabetes.

Main outcome measures included: the presence of 2 or more nonanthropometric components of the MetS were used to define clinical metabolic abnormality (CMA). The predictive ability of studied anthropometric indices for CMA was determined using the area under receiver operating characteristics (AUC) curve and binary logistic regression.

Results: A total of 157 men and 83 women had CMA. NC and NC:Ht had the highest predictive ability for CMA in men (odds ratio [OR]_NC = 1.79, P < .001 and OR_NC:Ht = 1.68, P < .001; AUC_NC = 0.69 [95% CI, 0.64-0.74] and AUC_NC:Ht = 0.69 [95% CI, 0.64-0.73]). In women, WC had the highest predictive ability OR_WC = 1.81, P < .001; AUC_WC = 0.75 [95% CI, 0.69-0.80]).

Conclusion: Upper-body anthropometric indicators that were associated with subcutaneous fat had the highest predictive ability for CMA in men whereas abdominal obesity indictors had the best predictive ability in women, suggesting that fat distribution might contribute to CMA in a sex-specific manner.

Keywords: HDL; anthropometry; blood glucose; blood pressure; cholesterol; metabolic syndrome.