Accuracy of Anthropometric Parameters as Indicators of Abdominal Adipose Tissue: Comparisons of the Areas under Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves Using a Nonparametric Approach

Background Simple anthropometric measurements are highly correlated with abdominal visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissue. However, the clinical usefulness of anthropometric measures in predicting abdominal VAT or SAT has not been fully accumulated and its clinical utility is still under question. Methods Participants were derived from the Jackson Heart Study (n=2884, mean age 60 year, 65% women) who underwent computed tomography. VAT and SAT were quantified volumetrically using 24 contiguous image slices. A non‐parametric method, analogous to the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC ROC ), was performed to define the diagnostic accuracy of anthropometric measures with a continuous scaled VAT or SAT as a reference standard outcome. Results The AUC ROC values of body weight, body mass index, waist circumference (WC) and hip girth are 0.77, 0.80, 0.82 and 0.80 for VAT, and 0.83, 0.86, 0.84, 0.87 for SAT, respectively, in women after adjustments for age, smoking and alcohol, total energy intake, medications for hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia, and hormone replacement therapy. Similar patterns were also observed in men. Among all anthropometric measures, WC was the best predictor for VAT, whereas SAT was best predicted by hip girth in women and WC in men (all p < 0.0001). Conclusion Anthropometric measures predict well VAT and SAT, and detect abdominal fat accumulation patterns. Future perspective studies are required to compare BMI, WC and hip girth with VAT and SAT for prediction of cardiometabolic risk factors in the African American populations.