Association between serum lipids, blood pressure, and simple anthropometric measures in an adult Chinese population

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of death in China. Although body mass index (BMI) of the Chinese population was lower than that of Western populations, it has shown a rapidly increasing trend. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of anthropometric measurements such as BMI and waist circumference (WC) with blood pressure, total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), and the prevalence of hypertension as well as dyslipidemia in Chinese adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey in a representative sample of 881 men and 1098 women >25 years old was conducted during the period between 2002 and 2003. Height, weight, WC, resting blood pressure and serum lipid profiles including TG, TC, HDL-C and LDL-C were measured. RESULTS: TC, TG, LDL-C, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), as well as the incidence rate of dyslipidemia or hypertension, kept increasing steadily with BMI and WC. Meanwhile, HDL-C decreased with the two anthropometric measurements. Multiple regression analysis showed that both WC and BMI were independent CVD risk-associated factors and central obesity had a stronger effect on the development of CVD. Adjusted odds ratios for having dyslipidemia or hypertension also increased significantly with the growth of BMI and WC. BMI and WC had similar areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves in predicting CVD risk factors. CONCLUSION: In the Chinese population, both BMI and WC provided independent information in assessing cardiovascular risks. Chinese subjects had a higher CVD risk and lower BMI and WC than Western population. Efforts to halt the trend of increasing BMI and WC should be undertaken.