Waist-hip ratio measurement location influences associations with measures of glucose and lipid metabolism. The San Luis Valley Diabetes Study.

The ratio of waist to hip circumference is widely used to characterize fat distribution patterns but the locations for measurement are not standardized. Between 1986 and 1988, we measured two waist and two hip circumferences on 616 Hispanic and non-Hispanic white subjects, aged 30 to 74 years. Intraclass correlation coefficients, based on repeat measurements of 38 subjects, showed that minimum waist and maximum hip circumferences attained or exceeded the level of repeatability seen with the landmark-based circumference measures. Sex-specific partial correlation coefficients, adjusted for age and body mass index, indicated wide variation in the magnitudes of associations of the two waist-hip ratios with measures of insulin, high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and diastolic blood pressure. Models with simple waist circumference generally produced partial correlation coefficients of equal or greater magnitude compared to the coefficients seen with the waist-hip ratio.