Anthropometric measures of obesity as correlates of atherogenic index of plasma in young adult females

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally, accounting to one-third of all global deaths. The first step toward dealing with the epidemic of CVD is to come up with reliable and feasible screening methods, that when applied to the general population, can identify people with high CVD risk. Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), defined as logarithm of the ratio of plasma concentration of serum triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, is a strong marker to predict the risk of atherosclerosis and a novel predictive indicator for CVD. We have undertaken the present study to find the correlation between the commonly used anthropometric measures of obesity and AIP. Aims and Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the extent of correlation between anthropometric measures of obesity and AIP. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on sixty apparently healthy young females. After recording the anthropometric measures of obesity in the subjects, lipid profile was evaluated and AIP was calculated. Correlation between anthropometric measures of obesity and AIP was tested by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: All anthropometric measures of obesity showed a significant correlation with AIP; however, waist circumference (WC) showed the strongest correlation (r = 0.369) followed by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (r = 0.298) and lastly body mass index (r = 0.277). Conclusion: Central measures of obesity such as WC and WHR are more accurate in predicting AIP, and hence, they can be used as handy screening tools to assess CVD risk in the general population.