Abstract
Background: Central obesity is highly prevalent in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Objectives: To define cut-off points of waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and conicity index (C-Index) to discriminate metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Brazilian women with PCOS. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, anthropometric, biochemical and clinical parameters were measured in 113 Brazilian PCOS women (27.2 ± 4.5 years). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to find out the cut-off points of anthropometric indices to predict MetS according with National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP-III) criteria. Results: Considering the ROC curve analysis the WC and WHtR had a similar performance in predicting MetS and these parameters were better than WHR and C-Index. The optimal cut-off values of the anthropometric indices for discriminate MetS were: WC = 95 cm; WHtR = 0.59; WHR = 0.88; and C-Index = 1.25. By using these cut-off points the sensitivity and specificity rates of WC and WHtR were higher than those observed for WHR and C-Index.Conclusion: Our results indicated that WC and WHtR are more accurate than WHR and C-Index to predict MetS in Brazilian PCOS women.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Ministério da Saúde do Brasil, and Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (FAPERN) (Convênio 0146.00/04-CNPq/FAPERN, projeto: 673.923254).
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.