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Background: Many studies have demonstrated that the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is more correlated with coronary artery disease (CAD) than the body mass index (BMI). Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is an independent risk factor of atherosclerotic heart disease. However, the association between the WHtR and the coronary artery calcification score (CACS) still needs to be studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between WHtR and CACS in healthy adults. Methods: A total of 1,111 adults without a history of cardiovascular disease who visited the Health Promotion center at the University Hospital were included in this study. All subjects hadtheir CACS measured via multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT). Results: Participants with a CACS > 0 had a greater WHtR than those with a CACS of 0 (0.535±0.006 vs 0.517±0.005, P<0.001). After adjusting for risk factors that affect CAC, WHtR was an independent predictor of CAC (odds ratio: 1.04, P=0.019, 95% CI: 1.01-1.07). Male sex and systolic blood pressure are associated with 2.53- and 1.02-fold increases in CAC, respectively (P<0.001, 95% CI: 1.53-4.19; P=0.007, 95% CI: 1.01-1.04). Conclusion: In this study of adults without heart disease, WHtR was an independent predictor of CAC. These results suggest that WHtR may be a useful marker of CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metabolic syndrome is associated with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in patients with prediabetes. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare WHtR (Waist-to-Height Ratio) as a predictor of metabolic syndrome with other anthropometric indices as in Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC) and Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) in prediabetes. Methods: A total of 816 subjects with prediabetes were recruited from a community based Cohort Study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to find the optimal cutoff value of WHtR. Area under the curve (AUC) was calculated for each anthropometric index and correlation coefficient between WHtR and various dermographic and clinical factors was calculated. Results: WHtR had a significant correlation with metabolic parameters except for fasting glucose and increased with increasing number of risk factors for metabolic syndrome. AUC of WHtR was significantly higher than that of other anthropometric indices. The optimal cutoff value of WHtR was 0.53 for metabolic syndrome in prediabetes. Conclusion: WHtR may be the simple and effective anthropometric index for predicting metabolic syndrome in prediabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to determine which index of obesity is the best discriminator of cardiovascular (CV) risk in Korean type 2 diabetes (T2DM) patients. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 1,111 T2DM patients from two university hospitals. We measured body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and biochemical CV risk factors in all subjects. The 10-year coronary heart disease risk was calculated with the Framingham Risk Score. Results: BMI showed significant correlation with SBP (systolic blood pressure), DBP (diastolic blood pressure), TC (total cholesterol), TG (triglyceride), HDL-C, and LDL-C. WC showed significant correlation to SBP, DBP, homocysteine, TG and HDL-C. WHR was significantly associated with SBP, DBP, TG, HDL and microalbuminuria. WHtR was significantly correlated to SBP, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C. WC (P ≤ 0.001, P for trend ≤ 0.001), WHR (P = 0.002, P for trend ≤ 0.001) and WHtR (P = 0.001, P for trend ≤ 0.001), except for BMI (P = 0.628, P for trend = 0.258), showed significant differences according to increasing quintiles of Framingham Risk Score. Conclusion: WC, WHR and WHtR were more closely related to CV risk score than BMI in Korean T2DM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]