The Correlation Between Waist-Circumference, BMI and Conicity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Postmenopausal Women

Changes in body fat distribution during menopause lead to increasing risk of cardiac and metabolic diseases. Considering the importance of predicting of cardiovascular diseases using related anthropometric indices, the aim of this study was to determine the correlation of waist circumference(WC), BMI and Conicity with cardiovascular risk factors (serum glucose, insulin[diabetes], blood pressure[BP] and dyslipidaemia). In a cross-sectional study, 250 non-smoking postmenopausal women, with BMI<30 were randomly selected. We measured WC, BMI and conicity and a 3 day food dietary recall and a food frequency questionnaire were completed for each participant. Fasting serum glucose, triglycerides, HDL-C, LDL-C and insulin were measured. There were significant correlations between WC and systolic BP(r=0.255, p=0.002), WC and conicity (r=0.67,p=0.0001), BMI and conicity(r=0.31, p=0.0001), conicity and systolic BP(r=0.31, p=0.009) and BMI systolic BP(r=0.21,p=0.009). There were also significant correlations between systolic BP and diastolic BP(p=0.002), serum insulin and systolic BP(r=0.21,p=0.008) and serum total cholesterol with systolic BP(r=0.2,p=0.13). Waist circumference was significantly associated with systolic BP and diabetes, BMI had a significant association with systolic BP and Conicity was significantly associated with systolic BP, serum triglycerides and glucose, but not with diabetes.