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Calf circumference and risk of cardiovascular disease
Author(s) -
Hsiang ChihHsuan,
Wu ChenJung,
Kao TungWei,
Chen WeiLiang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1111/ggi.14052
Subject(s) - quartile , medicine , anthropometry , framingham risk score , correlation , framingham heart study , demography , coronary heart disease , disease , gerontology , physical therapy , confidence interval , geometry , mathematics , sociology
Aim Calf circumference (CC) is an anthropometric parameter that is easily obtained. Increasingly, research has shown that CC related to cardiovascular events. We aimed to determine the correlation between CC and Framingham risk score (FRS) for the 10‐year cardiovascular disease risk assessment in Taiwanese elderly aged ≥65 years. Methods We included 540 men and 683 women aged ≥65 years. All participants and data were collected from geriatric physical screenings in Tri‐Service General Hospital in Taiwan during 2017. The correlation between CC and FRS‐coronary heart disease (CHD) were calculated. We used multivariate regression models to investigate the correlation between CC and FRS‐CHD. Covariate adjustments were investigated by performing an extended model. Results A significantly negative association was observed between FRS‐CHD and CC in both genders in both models (all P < 0.05). Male and female participants were divided into quartiles at the CC level (Q1–Q4) and we compared their baseline characteristics separately. We further explored the association between CC divided in quartiles and the FRS‐CHD, which exhibited a significant negative correlation comparing the largest quartiles with the first quartile in a fully adjusted model in both genders ( P < 0.05). In addition, the higher quartiles of CC seemed to have a lower FRS‐CHD with statistical significance ( P for trend <0.05). Discussion CC had a strongly negative correlation with FRS‐CHD in both genders. In the future, CC might be an applicable tool in geriatric research in Taiwan for the early detection of developing cardiovascular events. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20: 1133–1137 .