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. 2019 Jul 12;11(7):1580.
doi: 10.3390/nu11071580.

Comparisons of Visceral Adiposity Index, Body Shape Index, Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference and Their Associations with Diabetes Mellitus in Adults

Junxiang Wei  1   2 , Xin Liu  2 , Hong Xue  3 , Youfa Wang  1   2 , Zumin Shi  4
Affiliations

Comparisons of Visceral Adiposity Index, Body Shape Index, Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference and Their Associations with Diabetes Mellitus in Adults

Junxiang Wei et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The associations between visceral adiposity index (VAI), body shape index and diabetes in adults were inconsistent. We assessed the predictive capacity of VAI and body shape index for diabetes by comparing them with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). We used the data of 5838 Chinese men and women aged ≥18 years from the 2009 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the independent associations between Chinese VAI (CVAI) or body shape index and diabetes. The predictive power of the two indices was assessed using the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and compared with those of BMI and WC. Both CVAI and body shape index were positively associated with diabetes. The odds ratios for diabetes were 4.9 (2.9-8.1) and 1.8 (1.2-2.8) in men, and 14.2 (5.3-38.2) and 2.0 (1.3-3.1) in women for the highest quartile of CVAI and body shape index, respectively. The area under the ROC (AUC) and Youden index for CVAI was the highest among all four obesity indicators, whereas BMI and WC are better indicators for diabetes screening. Higher CVAI and body shape index scores are independently associated with diabetes risk. CVAI has a higher overall diabetes diagnostic ability than BMI, WC and body shape index in Chinese adults. BMI and WC, however, are more appealing as screening indicators considering their easy use.

Keywords: body mass index; body shape index; diabetes mellitus; obesity; visceral adiposity index; waist circumference.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest, and the funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The ROC curves of CVAI, ABSI, BMI and WC for diabetes among men (A) and women (B) in China. ROC, receiver-operating characteristic; CVAI, Chinese visceral adiposity index; ABSI, a body shape index; BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; AUCs, area under curves. AUCs were 0.729 and 0.794 for diagnosis of diabetes for men and women, respectively, and this is significantly better than ABSI, BMI and WC in Chinese adults (All p < 0.01).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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