Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat: A reliable indicator of visceral obesity for predicting risk for hypertension.

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) with the risk for hypertension and to compare the ability of the METS-VF, the metabolic score for insulin resistance, visceral adiposity index, waist-to-height ratio, waist circumference, and body mass index to predict hypertension incidence based on a large prospective study of rural Chinese individuals. METHODS:In all, 10 297 non-hypertensive adults (≥18 y of age) from a rural Chinese cohort study in 2007 and 2008 were included at baseline and followed up in 2013 and 2014. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between baseline METS-VF and hypertension risk. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis was used to evaluate the ability of METS-VF to predict hypertension incidence. RESULTS:We identified 2071 hypertension cases during follow-up. After adjusting for multivariable confounding factors, the adjusted ORs (95% CIs) for the highest versus lowest METS-VF quartile overall and for men and women were 3.84 (3.23-4.56), 3.25 (2.48-4.24), and 4.14 (3.30-5.20), respectively. Also, per-SD increase in METS-VF was positively associated with hypertension risk overall and for men and women. Similar results were found in the sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Finally, the AUC value for hypertension was higher for METS-VF than the other five indices overall and for men and women. CONCLUSIONS:The present study indicated that METS-VF was positively associated with hypertension incidence and performed better in predicting hypertension risk than five other indices, which suggests that METS-VF is a reliable predictor of hypertension in the Chinese population.