Body Roundness Index Is a Superior Obesity Index in Predicting Diabetes Risk Among Hypertensive Patients: A Prospective Cohort Study in China

Objective Individuals with both hypertension and diabetes have been confirmed to significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality compared to those with only hypertension or diabetes. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of different anthropometric indices for predicting diabetes risk among hypertensive patients. Methods 6990 hypertensive adults without diabetes were recruited in China. Demographic and clinical assessment, physical examinations, laboratory tests, and anthropometric measurements, including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and novel indices (ABSI, AVI, BAI, BRI, CI, WWI, WHHR), were performed at baseline and during the (median) 3-year follow-up. Cox regression analyses were conducted to estimate effects from these indices for the onset of diabetes. ROC analyses were conducted to assess the anthropometric indices' predictive capacities and determine the optimal cut-points. Results A total of 816 (11.7%) developed diabetes during our prospective study. Multivariate Cox regression analyses revealed weight, WC, WHR, WHtR, BAI, BRI, and WWI as the independent risk factor for diabetes among hypertensive patients, regardless of whether it was treated as a continuous or categorical variable (P4.62, regardless of general obesity status, are at high risk of diabetes; thus, the prompt screening and diagnosis of diabetes should be carried out among these patients for timely integrated intervention.