Abstract: Objective To compare the predicting value of the obesity-related indices for the risk of cardiovascular disease(CVD) in the postmenopausal women, and to determine the optimal cut off point for the best indicators. Methods This cross-sectional study surveyed 1 702 postmenopausal women aged over 60 years old living in the urban area of Nanjing, China. Eight obesity-related anthropometric indices were studied, including body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, abdominal volume index, body obesity index, body roundness index and body shape index. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between 10-year CVD risk and all indicators. The receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve and the area under the curve(AUC)were used to evaluate the predictive value of all indicators for CVD risk. Results Among these postmenopausal women, 691(40.6%) cases presented with medium risk of CVD, and 406(23.9%) with high risk of CVD. People with moderate to high CVD risk had higher levels of body measurement indices. Logistic regression analysis showed that all anthropometric indices were statistically correlated with CVD risk except for body shape index. ROC analysis showed that body roundness index and waist-to-height ratio had higher predicting value for CVD risk, with optimal cut-off value as 3.85 and 0.52, respectively. Conclusions Body roundness index and waist-to-height ratio are the best anthropometric indicators for assessing CVD risk in postmenopausal women.

Key words: cardiovascular disease risk, obesity-related indices, waist-to-height ratio, body roundness index, postmenopausal women