Waist-to-Height Ratio in Indian Women: Comparison With Traditional Indices of Obesity,Association With Inflammatory Biomarkers and Lipid Profile

Abstract

We compared waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with traditional anthropometric indices in healthy women aged 21 to 45 years from urban slums of Mumbai city, India. Lipid profile and inflammatory markers were measured in a subsample of 200 women, and their relationship with WHtR was examined. Mean WHtR was 0.50 ± 0.1, but a little more than half (51.9%) of the women had WHtR ≥0.50. WHtR could correctly identify centrally obese adult women, even when they were categorized as healthy or normal according to body mass index, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, and percentage body fat. Also, in centrally obese women, inflammatory markers—namely, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10—were significantly and positively correlated with WHtR. Thus, results of this study indicate that WHtR is a simple and effective anthropometric variable that has the potential to identify central obesity and the associated inflammation even in women with normal BMI.