Anthropometric indicators as risk markers for metabolic abnormalities

The purpose of this study was to determine which anthropometric indicator has the greatest bearing on the metabolic abnormalities in participants of a Lifestyle Change Program. It consisted of an exploratory, transversal and analytical survey, which assessed the body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), percentage of body fat (%BF) and of muscle mass (%MM) of 273 adults and elderly subjects (over 40 years of age). Blood samples after an 8-hour diet were obtained to assess total cholesterol, high-density cholesterol, low-density cholesterol, triacylglycerol and glucose. Statistical analyses for differentiation between the groups and determination of associations were conducted. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. When the metabolic abnormalities were assessed as a dependent variable and BMI, WC, %BF, %MM as independent variables, it was seen that WC was the anthropometric indicator that showed the closest association with all metabolic abnormalities (P<0,0001), followed by %MM. The conclusion reached was that WC rather than BMI was the main marker of anthropometric risk for metabolic abnormalities frequently related to obesity. Given the same WC value, overweight and obese individuals had comparable health risks to eutrophic individuals.