Anthropometry to Identify High Visceral Fat Area in Postmenopausal Women.

INTRODUCTION the evaluation of the body fat distribution by anthropometry can serve to identify excess visceral fat. This diagnosis will enable implementation of specific measures to both prevent and treat excess visceral fat in postmenopausal women. OBJECTIVE the aim of this study was to analyze different anthropometric indicators and identify the best cutoff points to discriminate subjects with high visceral fat area (HVFA) in postmenopausal women. METHODS cross-sectional study with a sample of 255 postmenopausal women. Different Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed and the areas under them compared in terms of the conicity index (C-index), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC), weight-to-height ratio (WHtR) and HVFA. Sensitivity and specificity identified the best cutoff points between the different anthropometric indicators in order to discriminate subjects with HVFA. The confidence interval was set at 95%. RESULTS statistically significant areas under the ROC curve were found for all anthropometric indicators analyzed. The following cutoff points, with their respective sensitivities and specificities to discriminate subjects with HVFA, were suggested: C-index (1.19; 75.00%- 74.77%); BMI (27.3 kg/m2; 81.08%-80.37%); WHR (0.98; 90.54%-83.18%); WC (85 cm; 85.14%-81.31%); and WHtR (0.55; 80.41%-80.37%). CONCLUSION these results demonstrate that anthropometric indicators identify HVFA well in postmenopausal women and can be used instead of more sophisticated exams to detect high levels of visceral fat.