Metabolic age correlates better than chronological age with waist-to-height ratio, a cardiovascular risk index

Chronological age confers an increased risk for cardiovascular disease; however, chronological age does not reflect the subject's current health status. Therefore, we assessed whether Metabolic age (Met-age), based on free fat mass, is a predictor of cardiovascular risk (CVR).

Subjects attending either IMSS UMF-2 or CUSC-1 were asked to participate. CVR was assessed using the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), whereas Met-age was determined using the TANITA bio-analyser (model: BC-545F Fitscan). The strengthen of association was determined by calculating Pearson's r and predictability was determined by the area-under-a-receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC).

284 subjects participated in this study, of which 61.6% had increased CVR. As expected, the chronological age was significantly higher in the CVR(+) group than the CVR(-) group (47.3±14.4 v. 35.2±12.7, respectively, p<.001) as well as Met-age (59.3±15.5 v. 34.3±14.3, respectively, p<.001). There was a strong association between WHtR and Met-age (r=.720, p<.001) and a moderate association for chronological age (r=.407 p<.001); however, the correlation between WHtR and Met-age was significantly better than chronological age (Z=-5.91, p<.01). Met-age was a good predictor of CVR (AUC=.88, 95%CI: .83-.92, p<.001), whereas chronological age was a fair predictor (AUC=.72, 95%CI: .66-.78, p<.001). However, Met-age showed a higher discriminatory capacity for CVR than chronological age (z=-4.597, p<.001).

Here, we determined that Met-age correlated with a CVR index, WHtR, and was able to predict subjects with increased CVR better than chronological age.