Association between ideal cardiovascular health and waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio

Abstract

Objective To determine the associations between cardiovascular health and the waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Methods A cross-sectional study was performed recruiting 26 701 middle-aged Chinese men, and the associations between cardiovascular health and the WC and WHtR were determined. Results Of the seven ideal cardiovascular health metrics, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), blood pressure (BP), and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were found to increase with an elevation of the mean WC and WHtR (all P values <0.05). The mean WC and WHtR were significantly lower in the subjects with moderate cardiovascular health than those with poor cardiovascular health, and the subjects with ideal cardiovascular health lower than those with moderate cardiovascular health (both P values <0.05). After adjustment for age, the mean WC and WHtR decreased by 1.486 cm and 0.009 per 1-point increase in the cardiovascular health score, and 2.242 cm and 0.013 per 1-point increase in the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics, respectively. In addition, the cardiovascular health score was negatively correlated with the WC (r=-0.387) and WHtR (r=-0.400), while the number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics was negatively associated with the WC (r=-0.384) and WHtR (r=-0.395). Conclusions The cardiovascular health is correlated negatively with the WC and WHtR, and a stronger correlation existed between the cardiovascular health and WHtR than WC. Key words: Health status; Waist circumference; Waist-to-height ratio