Anthropometric indicators of obesity as screening tools for low high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol in older adults: A cross‐sectional study

Low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increase the risk of cardiovascular events and mortality in older individuals. Developing cost-effective screening tools for identifying this condition in large populations is essential. To evaluate the discriminatory capacity of anthropometric indicators of obesity in screening for low HDL-C among older adults. A cross-sectional population-based epidemiological study was conducted with 223 older individuals (57% women) living in a community. The following anthropometric indicators were evaluated: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), abdominal circumference (AC), body adiposity index (BAI), triceps skinfold (TSF), waist-hip ratio (WHR), waist-height ratio (WHtR), and conicity index (CIn). Low HDL-C was defined as values below 40 mg/dL. The prevalence of low HDL-C was 25.10% (men: 35.41%; women: 21.77%). Among older men, BAI showed the highest sensitivity (87.10%; accuracy: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.53-0.74), while WC had the highest specificity (83.05%; accuracy: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.60-0.80). Among older women, WHR demonstrated the highest sensitivity (100%; accuracy: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.62-0.79), and WHtR showed the highest specificity (67.68%; accuracy: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.62-0.79). BAI and WHR were the most effective indicators for screening older men and women with low HDL-C, respectively. Additionally, WC and WHtR were the most effective indicators for identifying older men and women without low HDL-C, respectively.