Index of Central Obesity

Index of Central Obesity (ICO) is a novel parameter in identifying central obesity. It has been defined as the ratio of waist circumference (WC) and height. Parikh et al. proposed this as a better substitute to WC. WC is widely used in defining metabolic syndrome. NCEP ATTP III suggested cut off of 102 cm and 88 cm for males and females as a marker of central obesity. The same was used in defining metabolic Syndrome (MS). Misra et al. suggested that these cutoffs are not applicable among Indians and the cutoffs be lowered to 90 cm and 80 cm for males and females. Various race specific cutoffs were suggested by different groups. Internation Diabetes Federation (IDF) defined central obesity based on these various race and gender specific cutoffs. The other limitation of WC is that it can not be applied in children.
Parikh et al looked at the average heights of various races and suggested that by using ICO we can do away with varying race and gender specific cutoffs of WC. ICO cutoff of more than 0.5 is suggested as a criteria to define central obesity. Parikh et al further tested a modified definition of of MS in which WC was replaced with ICO in NHANES database and found the modified definition to be more specific and sensitive.
This parameter was later tested in diabetic population and was found to be very much useful in defining MS. Various researchers later used this tool and suggested that it is very much useful in identifying people at risk of cardiovascular diseases.
References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17156939
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19558273
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article1041&contextiph_theses
http://www.japi.org/march2008/Corr2.htm
http://www.expert-reviews.com/doi/abs/10.1586/erc.10.38?journalCode=erc
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v16/n4/full/oby2007109a.html
http://www.springerlink.com/content/f564438677110q36/

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu