Association of lipid indices with markers of obesity in first year medical students

Abstract

Dyslipidemia is one of the imperial factors in determining the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is often associated with obesity. Body mass index (BMI), the most applicable anthropometric measure, is a general adiposity predictor, whereas waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were established as measures of abdominal adiposity. Total 148 medical students, age between 17-20 years were enrolled in this cross sectional study. BMI and WHR were obtained by measuring Weight, height, WC, and hip circumference (HC). Triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were measured by the International Federation of clinical chemistry (IFCC) approved enzymatic colorimetric methods. Statistically significant positive correlations were observed between BMI and indices of different lipid parameters namely TG, TC, TC/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C. Similar statistical significances were also observed when WC and WHR were compared with lipid indices. From the findings, it could be inferred that BMI is used as non-invasive alternative for lipid indices and atherogenic parameters in medical students as compare to other markers of obesity assessment.