Obesity as assessed by body adiposity index and multivariable cardiovascular disease risk

PLoS One. 2014 Apr 8;9(4):e94560. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094560. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

To assess the role of body adiposity index (BAI) in predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, in comparison with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and the waist circumference to hip circumference ratio (WHR). This study was a prospective 15 year mortality follow-up of 4175 Australian males, free of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. The Framingham Risk Scores (FRS) for CHD and CVD death were calculated at baseline for all subjects. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the effects of the measures of obesity on CVD and CHD mortality, before adjustment and after adjustment for FRS. The predictive ability of BAI, though present in the unadjusted analyses, was generally not significant after adjustment for age and FRS for both CVD and CHD mortality. BMI behaved similarly to BAI in that its predictive ability was generally not significant after adjustments. Both WC and WHR were significant predictors of CVD and CHD mortality and remained significant after adjustment for covariates. BAI appeared to be of potential interest as a measure of % body fat and of obesity, but was ineffective in predicting CVD and CHD.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adiposity*
  • Aged
  • Australia / epidemiology
  • Body Mass Index*
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / epidemiology*
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / etiology*
  • Cause of Death
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Mortality
  • Obesity / complications*
  • Odds Ratio
  • Prognosis
  • Risk

Grants and funding

This study was originally supported by a competitive grant from Healthway, the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.