Effectiveness and Cut off Points of Anthropometric Measurements in Predicting Metabolic Syndrome in Turkish Women

Objective: Examination of the anthropometric methods and cut off points that are most appropriate to predict metabolic syndrome (MS) for the female Turkish population. Methods: Waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), arm circumference (AC), total skin thickness (TST) using caliper, body fat percentage (BFP) and fat free mass (FFM) using bioelectrical impedance were taken in 202 female patients. Blood glucose, lipid panel and blood pressure were also checked. We defined two different MS excluding anthropometric measurements. Low HDL and high triglyceride were separate criteria in the first definition; dyslipidemia was defined one criteria as low HDL and/or high triglyceride and/or triglyceride/HDL?3 in the second. Efficiency, sensitivity and specificity of anthropometric measurements in predicting MS criteria were assessed using ROC analysis. Results: When compared in determining three or more of the MS parameters of dysglicemia, low HDL, high triglyceride and hypertension, BMI, WC, BFP, WHR and AC were found to be significant (p<0.0001). TST was significant as well (p=0.001). FFM was insignificant (p=0.337). Cut off points for BMI, WC and WHR in predicting MS were 27.7 kg/m2, 92.5 cm, 0.86. When dyslipidemia was defined in one criteria, cut off points were found similarly 27.8 kg/m2, 92.5 cm, 0.86. Conclusion: BMI, WHR, BFP and WC were more valuable than TST and AC in predicting MS but they had no statistically significant superiority over each other. However, with a 95% confidence interval, predictive cut off points were significantly above those observed in western populations.