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  • Original Article
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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Changes in body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, waist to hip ratio and risk of all-cause mortality in men

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 927–932 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background:

There is a paucity of data about the impact of changes in anthropometric measurements on the risk of mortality events, especially in men.

Methods:

The study sample consists of 1805 Iranian men, aged⩾30 years, free from cardiovascular disease at baseline; they had undergone health examinations in both phases I (1999–2001) and II (2001–2003) and were followed up until March 2010. Participants were categorized by changes in anthropometric measurements into four groups: Group 1, change percentage<−5%; Group 2, −5% ⩽change percentages<+5%; Group 3, 5%⩽change percentage<10%; and Group 4, change percentage⩾10%. Cox proportional hazard regression was performed to assess the hazard ratios (HRs) of the anthropometric changes for all-cause mortality, given group 2 as the reference.

Results:

During 6.6 years of follow-up, 88 cases of mortality events occurred. The confounder-adjusted multivariate HRs for the first, third and fourth groups of hip circumference (HC) changes were 3.13(1.28–7.64), 0.75(0.43–1.31) and 0.82(0.23–2.99); the corresponding values for waist to hip ratio (WHR) change were 1.80(0.75–4.33), 1.21(0.70–2.1) and 2.32(1.25–4.3). After further adjustment for mediator covariates, results did not change. The equivalent values for body mass index and waist circumference did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions:

In Middle Eastern Caucasian men, increase in WHR was associated with incident mortality, which was more prominent in those with ⩾10% increase in the ratio. Moreover, decrease in HC was highly associated with excess risk of mortality.

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Acknowledgements

We express appreciation to the participants of district 13, Tehran, for their enthusiastic support. We would like to acknowledge Ms Nilufar Shiva for language editing of the manuscript. This article is derived from the thesis of Dr Mousavi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Prevention of Metabolic Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    S V Mousavi, R Mohebi, A Mozaffary, F Sheikholeslami & F Hadaegh

  2. Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    F Azizi

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  1. S V Mousavi
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Correspondence to F Hadaegh.

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Mousavi, S., Mohebi, R., Mozaffary, A. et al. Changes in body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, waist to hip ratio and risk of all-cause mortality in men. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 927–932 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.235

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