Optimal waist circumference cutoff points for the determination of abdominal obesity and detection of cardiovascular risk factors among adult Egyptian population
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the best anthropometric measurement of obesity, and its optimal cutoff, that best predicts the presence of cardiovascular risk factors among adult Egyptian population. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study including a representative randomly chosen sample of the adult Egyptian population from all Alexandria Districts (the second largest governorate in Egypt) based on the multistage random technique. It included 3209 subjects (1567 men, 1642 women) aged 18-80 years from urban and rural areas. The response rate was 80.2%. History, blood pressure, and anthropometric measurements were taken. Laboratory investigations included fasting lipid profile, fasting plasma glucose, and serum uric acid. Different criteria of metabolic syndrome were used and compared. Receiver operator characteristic curve and Youden index were used to determine predictability and cutoffs. RESULTS: Waist circumference (WC) is the best to predict at least two other components of the metabolic syndrome as defined by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). The optimal WC cutoffs were 100.5 and 96.25 cm for Egyptian men and women, respectively. The Joint Interim Statement definition (JIS) of metabolic syndrome was the best to predict cardiovascular disease in both genders and diabetes mellitus in women. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity was 42.5%, 61%, respectively (ATPIII definition); 43.8%, 61% (American Heart Association definition); 44.3%, 76.4% (IDF definition); 33.8%, 51.7% (IDF definition with Egyptian cutoffs); and 41.5%, 51.7% (JIS with Egyptian cutoffs). CONCLUSION: WC cutoffs in Egyptians differ from those currently recommended. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity is high in Egypt, despite being lower on using the Egyptian cutoffs.
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Concerns about abdominal appearance can be explained by the high prevalence of abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome due to socioeconomic, lifestyle, and nutritional changes in the Egyptian community and some other Arab countries.
“Concerns about abdominal appearance can be explained by the high prevalence of abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome due to the socioeconomic, lifestyle, and nutritional changes that have been taking place in the Egyptian community and some other Arab countries toward the unhealthy pattern21.”
From Association between beauty standards shaped by social media and body dysmorphia among Egyptian medical students (2025) · cites this paper as [21]
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Abdelaziz, M. N., Moustafa, A. R. A., Azzam, H., Bshar, A. M., Ismail, I. S., & Elhadidy, O. Y. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-95617-3 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Concerns about abdominal appearance can be explained by the high prevalence of abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome due to the socioeconomic, lifestyle, and nutritional changes that have been taking place in the Egyptian community and some other Arab countries toward the unhealthy pattern 21 .”
- Authors
- Assaad-Khalil, S., Mikhail, M., Aati, T., Zaki, A., Helmy, M., Megallaa, M., Hassanien, R., & Rohoma, K.
- Affiliations
- Alexandria University (EG)
- ORCID
- Zaki, Adel
- Venue
- Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism
- Published
- 2015
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 804
- ISSN
- 2230-8210 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4673810
- OpenAlex
- W2217500742
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 1.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Body Composition Measurement Techniques
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- waist circumference, cut-off values, abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk factors, IDF criteria, NCEP ATP III criteria, diabetes mellitus, Egyptian population
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