Variations in Anthropometric Measures of Obesity with Age in the Jackson Heart Study

Background– Based on body mass index (BMI), the prevalence of obesity has been shown to vary by age and sex. However, age- or sex-related variations in obesity defined by anthropometric measures of central adiposity, which may be better proxies for obesity-related risk, is unclear.Methods– Using data from 4063 African American (AA) participants in the Jackson Heart Study, linear and Poisson regression model analyses were conducted to estimate mean difference of standardized anthropometric measures and prevalence ratios of obesity based on body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) by age cohort and sex.Results– We found sex- and age-variations in the prevalence of obesity for all measures; however, these patterns varied. In cross-sectional analyses at Visit 2, older cohorts showed a lower prevalence of obesity based on BMI but a higher prevalence of obesity based on WHtR and WHR. In longitudinal analyses, for BMI, and WC, and WHtR, the mean and the prevalence of obesity from Visit 2 to Visit 3 increased only among younger cohorts; however, for WHR, the mean and the prevalence of obesity increased consistently from Visit 2 to 3 across all age cohorts for both sexes. Conclusions–WHR appeared to be a more consistent anthropometric measure for monitoring the prevalence of obesity particularly among elderly AAs. Instead of BMI, WHR would be used to monitor the prevalence of obesity among elderly AAs in clinic.