Diagnostic property of anthropometric indicators in the prediction of high body fat estimated by DXA in hypertensive women

Abstract

Excess body fat is an important risk factor for the development of arterial hypertension. The aim of this study was to verify the diagnostic performance of anthropometric indicators in the prediction of excess body fat estimated by Dual-energy Radiometric Absorptiometry (DXA) in hypertensive women. A cross-sectional study with 71 hypertensive women (57.9 ± 10.1 years; 77.8 ± 15.1 kg; 156.8 ± 5.2 cm) was carried out. he anthropometric indicators analyzed were: Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR), Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) and Conicity Index (C Index). Body fat measured by DXA was used as the reference method. Descriptive statistics and ROC curve were used for data analysis. Comparing the anthropometric indicators with the percentage of total fat estimated by DXA, signiicant diferences were observed in BMI, WC and WHR (P <0.05). In relation to the percentage of trunk fat, a diference was identiied in BMI and WC (P <0.05). Among the anthropometric indicators analyzed, BMI (0.83), WC (0.79) and WHtR (0.80) had the largest areas under the ROC curve in relation to excess body fat determined by DXA. he cutof points were conservative in relation to those suggested in literature. Anthropometric indicators BMI (24.72 kg/m²), WC (87.81 cm) and WHtR (0.55) can be adopted in the evaluation of excess body fat in hypertensive women, since they demonstrated to be good predictors when confronted with DXA.