A non-pharmacological diagnostic approach to study correlation between anthropometric indices and lipid profile in adult females-A review

The prevalence ofdyslipidaemia has increased manifold in the industrialized, developed and the developing countries to an extent that it is becoming an escalating epidemic. Obesity, an important risk factor of dyslipidaemia, places individuals at risk of various chronic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension and Cardiovascular diseases especially in females. However, because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate measures of body fatness in the population, measures of height and weight have been widely used to identify overweight and obesity. Obesity is currently defined using Body Mass Index. Body Mass Index is the most frequently used measure of obesity because of the ease of the measurement of height & weight and the widespread use of their measurements in large scale health surveys. Body Mass Index does not, however, measure the proportion of weight which is related to increased muscle or the uneven distribution of abnormal excess fat within the body, which seriously affect the health risks associated with overweight and obesity. It is a good but not a perfect surrogate for body fatness. For the above mentioned reason, a measure of obesity and overweight that takes in to account increased incidence of obesity related morbidity because of accumulation of abdominal and visceral fat is more desirable. Waist Hip Ratio & Waist Circumference are significantly associated with the incident Cardiovascular disease events and these simple measures give a better measure of abdominal & visceral fat & hence serve as better indicators of a deranged lipid profile and the adverse effects of the same.