Association between anthropometric measures of obesity and cardiovascular risk markers in a self-selected group of indigenous Australians

Background Indigenous Australians have a high prevalence of obesity and an unacceptably high rate of cardiovascular disease. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 93 high-risk indigenous Australians to assess how strongly three anthropometric measures correlated with known cardiovascular risk factors. Results Both waist circumference and body mass index were strongly associated with important risk factors. The waist: hip ratio was less useful. Waist circumference was the only measure that significantly correlated with the urine albumin creatinine ratio (ρ = 0.14; P =0.04). Conclusion Measuring the waist circumference is a cheap, effective way of monitoring cardiovascular risk.