Waist Circumference Above 80 cm Predicts Increased Systolic Blood Pressure in Healthy Young Adult Women

Abstract Background: Among anthropometric measures for assessing adiposity-related risk, waist circumference (WC) is simple and fast to perform. Cut-off values for WC proposed by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the Adult Treatment Panel III of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP-ATP III) are categorized by gender and are not age-specific. Objective: To analyze the association between WC and cardiometabolic risk factors in adult women. Methods: A total of 164 healthy adult women were grouped by WC according to IDF and NCEP-ATP III cutoff values. Continuous variables were described as mean ± standard deviation or median (interquartile range). The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess the normality of data. Variables were analyzed by unpaired Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The correlation of WC categories with systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and triglycerides were examined by Spearman's rho correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis. A p value