How do different indices of obesity correlate with cardiometabolic disease risk factors in multiethnic youths?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between cardiometabolic disease risk factors (CDRFs) among ethnic minorities and anthropometric factors including body mass index z score, waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHTR) in Hispanic and non-Hispanic black youths originating primarily from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. METHODS: Clinical data of 167 young persons 2 to 19 years of age encountered in an outpatient pediatric endocrinology clinic were analyzed. The CDRFs included fasting insulin and glucose, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, cardiac C-reactive protein (CRP), and apolipoproteins. RESULTS: For both the non-Hispanic black and the Hispanic youths, WC was significantly correlated with SBP (r = 0.63; P<.001 and r = 0.50; P<.001, respectively), DBP (r = 0.61; P<.001 and r = 0.47; P<.001, respectively), and cardiac CRP (r = 0.76; P<.001 and r = 0.26; P = .026, respectively). Similarly, WHTR was significantly correlated with SBP, DBP, and cardiac CRP for the non-Hispanic black study subjects, whereas SBP (r = 0.22; P = .01), DBP (r = 0.34; P<.001), fasting insulin (r = 0.43; P<.001), HOMA-IR (r = 0.38; P<.001), apolipoprotein A-I (r = 0.30; P = .01), and CRP (r = 0.44; P<.001) were significantly correlated for the Hispanic group. For both groups, body mass index z score was not consistently correlated with CDRFs, and waist-to-hip ratio was not significantly correlated with any CDRFs, except for apolipoprotein B in non-Hispanic black youths. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that WC and WHTR may be useful anthropometric factors for better identification of ethnic minority youths at risk for adult-onset cardiometabolic disease.