Waist circumference as a simple indicator of visceral obesity in type 2 diabetes
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Updated: Nov 2, 2026

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Published on: November 22, 2024
Beibei Luo1, Bohan Wu2, Xiuhua Xiang3
1Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650500, PR China; Clinical Laboratory, People's Hospital of Yuxi City, the Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, 21 Nieer Road, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province 653100, PR China.
Introduction:
Obesity is a common occurrence in individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Typically, the assessment of obesity degree involves the measurement of the visceral fat area (VFA). Nevertheless, evaluating VFA through this method can be costly. Consequently, our study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of physical measurement indexes in precisely measuring VFA, particularly in individuals diagnosed with T2DM.
Methods:
In the period between March 2018 and October 2024, a cohort of 5075 patients was gathered at the Metabolic Management Center (MMC) to investigate the correlation between anthropometric indices and VFA. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were generated for various obesity indices, elucidating their effectiveness in discerning patients with and without visceral obesity.
Results:
Various anthropometric measures, including a body shape index (ABSI), body roundness index (BRI), body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), waist-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC), were analyzed for comparative purposes. Among these, waist circumference (WC) exhibited the highest AUC value in estimating visceral obesity (VFA) for both male (AUC = 0.881, 95% CI: 0.870-0.893) and female (AUC = 0.891, 95% CI: 0.875-0.907).
Conclusions:
WC is the best in evaluating visceral obesity in patients with T2DM.
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