Relationship between Waist Circumference and Metabolic Risk Factors in Argentine Women

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a group of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. These factors include central obesity, usually assessed through waist circumference (WC). Objective: To analyze the behavior of the different MS variables (ATP III definition) in relation to changes in WC. Subjects: We included 253 women who attended the Service of Endocrinology. We performed anthropometric, blood pressure, fasting glucose and lipid profile measurements. Patients were grouped into quintiles by WC: Q1 (56-80 cm), Q2 (80.1-89 cm), Q3 (89.1-96 cm), Q4 (96.1-103 cm) and Q5 (103.1-150 cm. Results: There is a positive correlation between WC and BMI (p <0.0001, r = 0.87). In addition, there is a positive correlation between WC and triglyceride levels (p <0.0001, r: 0.28), glucose (p = 0.0001, r = 0.24), systolic blood pressure (BP) (p <0.0001, r = 0.27) and diastolic BP (p <0.0007, r: 0.21) and a negative correlation between WC and HDL levels (p <0.0001, r = -0.25). Conclusions: As WC increases, cardiovascular risk factors (diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides, decreased HDL) increase. Rev Argent Endocrinol Metab 50:25-29, 2013