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Cited by 50Obesity, Physical Activity, DietDiabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and LipoproteinsBody Composition Measurement Techniques

Changes in waist circumference relative to body mass index in Chinese adults, 1993–2009

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Stern, D, Smith, L P, Zhang, B, Gordon-Larsen, P, Popkin, B M·2014·International Journal of Obesity
DOI 10.1038/ijo.2014.74PMC PMC4229489
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Abstract

Background Although body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are correlated, the relationship between WC and BMI may have changed over time. Objectives To describe temporal trends in BMI and WC distributions and quantify the increase in WC at a given BMI over time. Subjects/methods Data on adults aged 20-59 years from two waves (1993 and 2009) of the China Health and Nutrition Survey were used in a pooled cross-sectional analysis. Quantile regression examined age-adjusted temporal trends in the distributions of BMI and WC. Linear regression examined changes in mean WC over time, adjusting for BMI, age at survey and survey year. All models were stratified by gender. Results There was a significant increase in BMI and WC over time, particularly at the 95th quantile: on average, men had 2.8 kg m(-2) (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.4, 3.3) and women 1.5 kg m(-)(2) (95% CI: 1.1, 2.0) higher BMI in 2009 compared with their counterparts in 1993. WC increased by 9.0 cm (95% CI: 7.5, 10.1) and 5.0 cm (95% CI: 3.4, 6.6) for men and women, respectively. On average, men and women had a 3.2 cm (95% CI: 2.8, 3.7) and 2.1 cm (95% CI: 1.7, 2.5) higher WC in 2009 compared with their counterparts in 1993, holding BMI and age constant. WC adjusted for BMI increased to a larger extent among obese versus lean individuals and among younger versus older women. Conclusions For both genders, BMI and WC increased significantly over time, with particularly greatest increase in magnitude in the upper tail of the BMI and WC distributions. Furthermore, WC at equivalent BMIs was higher in 2009, compared with their counterparts in 1993. Our findings suggest that even if BMI remained constant from 1993 to 2009, adults in 2009 might be at increased cardiometabolic risk as a result of their higher WC.

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  • The trend of VAI decrease may highly correlate with the increasing trend of TG, BMI and WC overtime reported by other studies.

    “Our findings showed that while LAP and ABSI had an increasing trend over time, the trend of VAI significantly decreased in both GDM and non-GDM groups, results which may highly correlate with the increasing trend of TG, BMI and WC overtime reported by other studies [28–30].”

    From Trend of various adiposity indices in women with and without history of gestational diabetes: a population-based cohort study (2019) · cites this paper as [30]

    The Results and Conclusions (page unavailable) report that BMI and waist circumference increased among Chinese adults from 1993 to 2009. The paper does not report an increasing triglyceride trend or examine whether those trends correlate with a decrease in VAI. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • WC adjusted for BMI was increased to a larger extent amongst younger versus older women.

    “In addition, it was shown that WC adjusted for BMI was increased to a larger extent amongst younger versus older women [30].”

    From Trend of various adiposity indices in women with and without history of gestational diabetes: a population-based cohort study (2019) · cites this paper as [30]

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Authors
Stern, D., Smith, L. P., Zhang, B., Gordon-Larsen, P., & Popkin, B. M.
Affiliations
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • Chinese Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CN)
Corresponding author
Popkin, B M
ORCID
Venue
International Journal of Obesity
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2014-05-12
Volume
38
Issue
12
Pages
1503-1510
ISSN
  • 0307-0565 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-5497
DOI
10.1038/ijo.2014.74
PMC
PMC4229489
OpenAlex
W2161073293
Cited by
50
References
44
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4 · 2013: 4
FWCI
1.14
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • International Journal of Obesity (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (2r24hd050924-06)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL108427)
  • Fogarty International Center (D43TW009077)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK-056350, P30DK056350)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD 38700, R01HD030880, R24 HD-050924, 5R24 HD050924, R01HD038700, R01 HD 30880, T32HD007168)
  • Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Body Composition Measurement Techniques
Keywords
waist circumference, body mass index, temporal trends, abdominal obesity, obesity, cardiometabolic risk, sex differences, Chinese adults, China Health and Nutrition Survey
MeSH terms
Adult, Cardiovascular Diseases, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Female, Humans, Life Style, Male, Middle Aged, Nutrition Surveys, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Time Factors, Body Mass Index, Prevalence, Metabolic Syndrome, Asian People, Body Fat Distribution, Waist Circumference, Obesity, Abdominal

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