Objective:
To examine the association of obesity indexes (including body mass index [BMI], waist circumference [WC], waist-to-hip ratio [WHR], and waist-to-height ratio [WHtR]) with gout and to compare the performance of obesity indexes to predict the risk of gout in Taiwanese men.
Methods:
Data was analyzed from 1443 Taiwanese men who participated health examinations and age ≧ 20 years in the 1993-1996 Nutrition and Health Survey (NAHSIT, 1993-1996). We conducted four logistic models to determine the relationships between obesity indexes and gout. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the predictive performance and to identify the optimal cut-off points, sensitivity, and specificity of obesity indexes for male gout.
Results:
After controlling for the other covariables, multivariate logistic model showed the odds ratio for WHtR was 2.28 (95% CI: 1.35-3.86) and had a significant linear effect (p for trend = 0.03) in male gout. In ROC curve, the largest area under curve was founding WHtR (AUC: 0.684; 95 % CI: 0.639-0.729) and the optimal cut-off point of WHtR associated with the risk of gout in men was 0.57 (sensitivity and specificity was 67%, respectively).
Conclusions:
WHtR is the best predictor for the risk of gout in Taiwanese.
