A comparative study of sagittal abdominal diameter and other anthropometric indices of obesity in adults with family history of cardiovascular risk factors

Abstract

Background: Obesity is evolving into a modern day epidemic in India. Visceral Adipose Tissue is the main culprit, being the metabolically active component that is responsible for the cardiovascular risk factors. The day-to-day anthropometric indices fail to take body composition and distribution into account and hence miss a chance at early detection. Family history plays an important role by serving as a genetic link in the transmission of risk factors. There is a need for vigorous screening techniques which are clinically plausible for an early diagnosis of visceral adiposity in individuals predisposed to the numerous risks caused by its accumulation. Sagittal abdominal diameter is a useful tool in measuring the visceral adipose tissue clinically and in the current study; a comparison was done between SAD and already existing anthropometric indices.Methods: The study was done on 223 subjects in Bangalore during the period of November 2015 to May 2017.Among the subjects studied, 54.7% were Male and 45.3% were female. When compared to BMI, WC and WHR, SAD correlated better with total cholesterol, fasting blood sugar, post prandial blood sugar and HbA1c.Results: The mean SAD was more in people with a combined history of DM and HTN than in individuals with history of either DM or HTN alone.Conclusions: We could conclude that Sagittal Abdominal Diameter is comparable to Body Mass Index, but it correlates better with metabolic risk profile of an individual than BMI, WC and WHR.