Through a home-based survey, all people aged 18 years and over (n = 1800) in the catchment areas of 12 primary health care centres in 4 Egyptian governorates were subjected to standardized waist and hip measurements. Central obesity was determined based on the waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) indicators. The age-adjusted prevalence of central obesity among adults was 24.1% and 28.7% based on the WC and WHR indicators respectively. After adjustment for sex and other confounding factors, WC was significantly associated with the risk of diabetes and hypertension, while WHR was not significantly associated with either diabetes or hypertension. No significant association was seen between body mass index and diabetes or hypertension.