Effects of waist to height ratio, waist circumference, body mass index on the risk of chronic diseases, all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality

BackgroundGiven the fat redistribution in later stages of life, how the associations between abdominal obesity and the risk of morbidity and mortality have changed with age have not been elucidated, especially for waist to height ratio (WHtR).ObjectiveTo compare the strength of association between obesity indices and chronic diseases at baseline, and the subsequent mortality risk among US adults.MethodsWe included 21 109 participants from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2014. We performed logistic regression and receiver operating curve analysis to examine the discriminatory power of obesity indicators on cardiometabolic diseases and cancer at baseline. Sex-stratified and age-stratified Cox models were constructed to explore the prospective association between obesity indices and all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality.ResultsElevated WHtR, elevated waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI)-classified obesity are associated with higher odds of hypertension (OR: 1.37-2.13), dyslipidemia (OR: 1.06 to 1.75, all p