An optimized anthropometric index—a body shape index-cm—demonstrates superior performance in cardiovascular risk stratification

• Published in: Journal of international medical research Vol. 53; no. 5; p. 3000605251343018
• Main Authors: Tian, Jiayu, Wang, Xuejie, Wen, Xiaoqin, Gao, Bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2025; Sage Publications Ltd; SAGE Publishing
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anthropometry; Anthropometry - methods; Body Mass Index; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular Diseases - diagnosis; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - mortality; Female; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nutrition Surveys; Obesity, Abdominal - complications; Obesity, Abdominal - diagnosis; Observational Study; Performance evaluation; Proportional Hazards Models; Risk Assessment - methods; ROC Curve; Survival analysis; Waist Circumference; anthropometric indices; central obesity; cardiovascular mortality; Cardiovascular disease; a body shape index
• ISSN: 0300-0605; 1473-2300; 1473-2300
• DOI: 10.1177/03000605251343018

Objective A body shape index is a novel indicator for assessing central obesity, but its relationship with cardiovascular disease and mortality remains unclear. This study aimed to assess whether a body shape index-cm, a refined version of a body shape index, improves cardiovascular risk stratification. Methods Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018, along with follow-up mortality data until 2019, we conducted an observational study to evaluate the performance of a body shape index-cm in identifying cardiovascular disease and predicting mortality. We compared a body shape index-cm with traditional anthropometric indices by employing receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, Cox proportional hazards regression, restricted cubic spline, and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Results Among 47,668 participants, a body shape index-cm emerged as a superior screening tool for cardiovascular diseases, achieving an area under the curve of 0.701, surpassing those of waist-to-height ratio (0.631), waist circumference (0.624), and body mass index (0.556). A body shape index-cm showed the highest accuracy in identifying coronary heart disease (area under the curve: 0.728). A linear relationship was observed between a body shape index-cm and cardiovascular mortality risk, with each standard deviation increase in a body shape index-cm associated with a 20% increase in mortality risk. Conclusions A body shape index-cm outperforms traditional measures in identifying cardiovascular disease and shows a linear correlation with cardiovascular mortality.