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 (chi(2) = 0.76, P = 0.38) nor leptin (chi(2) = 1.32, P = 0.25) added value to WC beyond traditional risk factors, whereas WC added incremental value to adiponectin (chi(2) = 28.02, P < 0.0001) and leptin (chi(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.