Relationships between indices of obesity and its cardiovascular comorbidities in a Chinese population

Current definitions of overweight/obesity and central adiposity guidelines are based on Western populations, and may not be appropriate for the Chinese population. More data among Chinese are needed to address this issue. We aimed to identify cut-offs for body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference that confer increased risk of cardiovascular disease in a Chinese population in Shanghai.

A representative, cross-sectional sample of 13,817 adults aged >18 years was studied in Shanghai. In men and women, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and glucose values were incrementally higher and mean high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol values were incrementally lower with increased BMI and waist circumference. Both the point at which sensitivity equaled specificity and the shortest distance in the receiver operating characteristic curves for hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, or >or=2 of these risk factors generally suggested a BMI cut-off value of 24 kg/m(2) for both men and women, and a waist circumference cut-off value of 85 cm for men and 80 cm for women.

A BMI cut-off of 24 kg/m(2) for both men and women, and a waist circumference cut-off of 85 cm for men and 80 cm for women might be appropriate for use in identifying adults at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and serve as public health action thresholds in Shanghai residents.