Cardiometabolic index is associated with hypertension among US older adults: An analysis of NHANES 2011–2018

Hypertension is the leading cause of mortality and disability-adjusted life years worldwide. Patients with hypertension suffer a higher risk of metabolic syndrome. The cardiometabolic index (CMI) is an innovative metabolic indicator for screening diabetes mellitus, stroke, and renal dysfunction. However, it remains unclear whether there exists an association between CMI and hypertension among older adults. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the association between CMI and hypertension among older adults. This study included 3067 adults aged 60 years and older from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2018. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and smooth curve fitting were employed to investigate the association between the CMI and hypertension, with subgroup analyses and interaction tests used to assess the stability of this association across different populations. According to the multivariate logistic regression results, participants with the highest CMI had a statistically significant 86% increased risk of hypertension prevalence compared with participants with the lowest CMI (odds ratio = 1.86; 95% confidence interval = 1.43-2.44, P < .0001) in a fully adjusted model. Furthermore, the application of smoothing curve fitting demonstrated a positive correlation between CMI and hypertension, while subgroup analysis revealed no significant interactions between CMI and specific subgroups (P > .05 for all interactions). CMI exhibited a positive correlation with hypertension among older adults, indicating that CMI is expected to become a simple and cost-effective biomarker.