Evaluation of waist-to-height ratio as a predictor of insulin resistance in non-diabetic obese individuals. A cross-sectional study

Sao Paulo Medical Journal, November 2017

29116305

Giovana Jamar, Flávio Rossi de Almeida, Antonio Gagliardi, Marianna Ribeiro Sobral, Chao Tsai Ping, Evandro Sperandio, Marcelo Romiti, Rodolfo Arantes, Victor Zuniga Dourado

Insulin resistance (IR) and progressive pancreatic β-cell dysfunction have been identified as the two fundamental features in the pathogenesis of obesity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We aimed to investigate correlations between anthropometric indices of obesity and IR in non-diabetic obese individuals, and the cutoff value from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Cross-sectional study conducted in a private clinic. We included obese individuals (body mass index, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) with no diabetes mellitus (fasting glucose levels ≤ 126 mg/dl). The participants were evaluated for the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and through anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests. Furthermore, IR was assessed indirectly using the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA)-IR and HOMA-β indexes. The area underthe curve (AUC) of the variables was compared.The sensitivity, specificity and cutoff of each variable for diagnosing IR were calculated. The most promising anthropometric parameters for indicating IR in non-diabetic obese individuals were waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC) and BMI. WHtR proved to be an independent predictor of IR, with risk increased by 0.53% in HOMA-IR, 5.3% in HOMA-β and 1.14% in insulin. For HOMA-IR, WHtR had the highest AUC value (0.98), followed by WC (0.93) and BMI (0.81). For HOMA-β, WHtR also had the highest AUC value (0.83), followed by WC (0.75) and BMI (0.73).The optimal WHtR cutoff was 0.65 for HOMA-IR and 0.67 for HOMA-β. Among anthropometric obesity indicators, WHtR was most closely associated with occurrences of IR and predicted the onset of diabetes in obese individuals.