Anthropometric measures of central adiposity are highly concordant with predictors of cardiovascular disease risk in HIV patients

Body fat redistribution and metabolic abnormalities found in HIV patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) contribute to an atherogenic profile, increasing cardiovascular disease risk. We aimed to evaluate adiposity measures/indexes and propose cutoffs associated with predictors of cardiovascular disease risk in HIV patients on HAART. To evaluate cardiovascular disease risk in this cross-sectional study, we conducted electrocardiogram exams and stress electrocardiography, measured the ankle brachial index and blood pressure arterial hypertension, conducted lipid biochemical tests, and measured blood glucose. We measured circumferences [waist (WC), hip, thigh, calf, neck, trunk] and skinfold thicknesses (biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac), conducted bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and calculated indexes [body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-thigh ratio, waist-to-calf ratio, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), trunk-to-arm ratio, body mass index corrected for body fat mass, Body Adiposity Index, conicity index, body shape index, fat mass (percentage), and phase angle]. For evaluating the performance of all adiposity measures/indexes, we used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Measures of central adiposity WC and WHtR showed the best performances—WC area under the curve (AUC) for men: 0.83 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.89; P