Abstract

Background: Obesity is one of the strong risk factors in development of metabolic disorders such as type-2 diabetes or hypertension (HTN) in individuals. However, central obesity or overall obesity is the primary risk factor associated with metabolic disorder and not well-established. Hence, this study was planned to investigate the anthropometric parameters such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), abdominal volume index (AVI), Conicity index (CI), and skinfold thickness as surrogates in predicting the metabolic disorders in young population.

Objective: To assess the ability of anthropometric parameters mainly AVI and CI, to identify young women at risk of developing diabetes and HTN in future, and to compare the anthropometric measurements among the different socioeconomic status.

Materials and Methods: Eighty-four women in reproductive age group of 20–40 years were assessed for different anthropometric parameters such as weight, height, WC, skinfold thickness, and derived values of BMI, WHR, AVI, and CI. They were also investigated for fasting blood glucose and triglyceride levels, and supine blood pressure was recorded. The population was of different socioeconomic class as classified by Modified Kuppuswamy classification; the study was designed to predict metabolic abnormalities such as diabetes mellitus and HTN based on laboratory and blood pressure values (prediabetes: fasting blood glucose, 100–126 mg/ dL; preHTN, systolic blood pressure, 120–139 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure, 80–89 mm Hg; hypertriglyceridemia, triglycerides >150 mg/dL; or a combination of risk factors). The data were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and receiver-operating characteristic curve.

Result: The mean BMI was 24.84 ± 5.34 kg/m2; WC: 96.64 ± 11.5 cm; WHR: 0.96 ± 0.07; AVI: 18.94 ± 4.78; CI: 1.42 ± 0.48; and sum of skinfold thickness: 11.19 ± 3.16 mm. All the mean parameters of the study mentioned earlier were found to have no significant difference when tested by one way ANOVA. Twenty-nine people were detected with metabolic abnormalities that showed significant difference in BMI, AVI, CI, and skin fold thickness.

Conclusion: Our results suggested that obesity is prevalent in all the classes of society irrespective of their social class. BMI is the best indicator for predicting the metabolic abnormality. AVI, CI, and WC can also be used along with the BMI in predicting metabolic abnormality for early management.

Key words: Body mass index, abdominal volume index, Conicity index