Chinese visceral adipose index is more closely associated with risk of arterial stiffness than traditional obesity indicators: a cohort study

Abstract Background The Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) was a new index to evaluate visceral adipose tissue in the Chinese population. Arterial stiffness (AS) is a kind of degeneration of the large arteries, and obesity is an essential contributing factor to AS. Our study aimed to explore the longitudinal association between CVAI and the risk of AS and to compare the predictive power of CVAI, Body Mass Index (BMI), and Waist Circumference (WC) for AS. Methods Between 2010 and 2020, a total of 14,877 participants participating in at least two brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measurements from the Kailuan study were included. The Cox proportional hazard regression models were performed to evaluate the longitudinal association between CVAI and the risk of AS. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated to compare the predictive power of CVAI, BMI, and WC for AS. Results After adjusting for potential confounding factors, CVAI was significantly associated with the risk of AS. Compared with the first CVAI quartile, the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% CI of the second, third, and fourth quartiles were 1.30 (1.09–1.56), 1.37 (1.15–1.63), and 1.49 (1.24–1.78), respectively. The area under ROC curve of CVAI was 0.661, significantly higher than BMI (AUC: 0.582) and WC (AUC: 0.606). Conclusion CVAI may be a reliable indicator to identify high-risk groups of AS in the Chinese general population, and the predictive power of CVAI for AS was better than BMI and WC.