A Body Shape Index as a Simple Anthropometric Marker of Abdominal Obesity and Risk of Cardiovascular Events

Context: A Body Shape Index (ABSI) has been reported to have associations with cardiovascular risk factors. However, there is no information on the association between ABSI and incidence of cardiovascular events. Methods: We investigated the associations between ABSI and first major cardiovascular events (death from cardiovascular disease, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and nonfatal stroke) in 1857 subjects from the database of Flow-Mediated Dilation Japan registry and from Hiroshima University Vascular Function registry. Results: The areas under the curves of ABSI to predict the first major cardiovascular events were superior to BMI (men: P = .032, women: P = .015) and waist circumference in women (men: P = .078, women: P = .002). The subjects were divided into 2 groups based on the cutoff value of ABSI for predicting first major cardiovascular events: a low ABSI group (<0.0822 in men and <0.0814 in women) and a high ABSI group (>= 0.0822 in men and >= 0.0814 in women). During a median follow-up period of 41.6 months, 56 subjects died (23 from cardiovascular causes), 16 had nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and 14 had nonfatal stroke. The Kaplan-Meier curves for first major cardiovascular events were significantly different between the 2 groups (men, P < .001; women, P < .001). Multivariate analysis revealed that high ABSI remained an independent predictor of first major cardiovascular events (men: hazard ratio, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.07 to 5.06; P = .033; women: hazard ratio, 8.33; 95% CI, 1.06 to 65.49; P = .044). Conclusion: High ABSI is independently associated with incidence of cardiovascular events. ABSI calculation should be performed for evaluation of risk of cardiovascular events.