BMJ 1996;312:1227-1228 (11 May)

Letters

Waist circumference remains useful predictor of coronary heart disease

EDITOR,--Margaret Ashwell and colleagues1 have produced evidence from the 1992 health survey for England to support our suggestion that waist circumference is a good predictor of risk of cardiovascular disease.2 We are puzzled, however, by their suggestion that the ratio of waist circumference to height may be a better predictor of risk than waist circumference alone. In fact, after adjustment for age their data show that correlations of the waist circumference with the calculated risk of coronary heart disease are, if anything, slightly higher than correlations of the ratio of the waist circumference to height with the calculated risk.

Intuitively, it makes sense to correct associations with waist circumferences for height. Taller people would be expected to have larger waist circumferences than shorter people. We have therefore analysed the relation between height and waist circumference in our sample of 2183 men and 2698 women aged 20-59 according to their "waist . . . [Full text of this article]


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