Measurement of Waist Circumference Predicts Coronary Atherosclerosis Beyond Plasma Adipokines

Objective: The association of plasma adipokines beyond waist circumference (WC) with coronary artery calcification (CAC), a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, is unknown.

Design And Methods: Asymptomatic Caucasian individuals from two community-based cross-sectional studies (n = 1,285) were examined and multivariate analysis of traditional risk factors was performed, then WC and adipokines (adiponectin and leptin) were added. Incremental value of each was tested with likelihood ratio testing.

Results: Beyond traditional risk factors, WC (Tobit regression ratio 1.69, P < 0.001) and plasma leptin (1.57, P < 0.001) but not plasma adiponectin (P = 0.75) were independently associated with CAC. In nested models, neither adiponectin (χ(2) = 0.76, P = 0.38) nor leptin (χ(2) = 1.32, P = 0.25) added value to WC beyond traditional risk factors, whereas WC added incremental value to adiponectin (χ(2) = 28.02, P < 0.0001) and leptin (χ(2) = 13.58, P = 0.0002).

Conclusion: In the face of important biomarkers such as plasma adiponectin and leptin, WC remained a significant predictor of CAC beyond traditional risk factors underscoring the importance of WC measurement during cardiovascular risk assessment.