Cardiovascular

A cross-sectional study on anthropometric indices and hypertension in Chinese adults: comparison of discriminatory power and age-stratified analysis.

Lu S, Chen N, et al. • Frontiers in public health • 2026

PubMed 42959133 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1933929

TL;DR

WHtR and BRI showed the strongest overall associations with hypertension, whereas WC was the best indicator in young adults, and the performance of anthropometric indices varied by age.

Key Findings

Results

WC, BMI, WHtR and BRI were each associated with about 56-61% higher odds of hypertension per standard deviation increase, whereas ABSI showed a much weaker association.

Cross-sectional analysis of 104,248 adults from a health check-up cohort in Southwest China.
Per SD increase: WC OR 1.61 (95% CI 1.58-1.64), BMI 1.61 (1.58-1.64), WHtR 1.60 (1.57-1.63), BRI 1.56 (1.54-1.59).
ABSI had an OR of 1.09 (1.07-1.11), i.e., 9% higher risk per SD.
Hypertension was defined as BP ≥140/90 mmHg, self-reported diagnosis, or current antihypertensive medication use; multivariable logistic and linear regression were used.

Results

WHtR and BRI had the highest and identical overall discriminatory power for hypertension, and ABSI had the lowest.

WHtR and BRI both had an AUC of 0.676.
WC followed with an AUC of 0.653.
ABSI had the lowest AUC at 0.612.
Discriminatory power was compared using AUC from receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results

Discriminatory ability was strongest in adults aged 18-35 years, with WC performing best in this group.

WC achieved an AUC of 0.763 in the 18-35 age group.
The best-performing index varied by age group, indicating age-specific performance of anthropometric indices.

Results

The associations between all five anthropometric indices and hypertension weakened significantly with increasing age.

P for interaction < 0.001 for all indices.
Analyses were stratified by age group to assess age-specific associations and discriminatory ability.

Conclusions

The authors conclude that age-specific considerations may improve the usefulness of anthropometric indices for preliminary hypertension risk screening.

WHtR and BRI showed the strongest overall associations with hypertension.
WC was the best indicator among young adults.
Hypertension is a heavy public health burden in China, and simple anthropometric indicators can help screen for risk.

What This Means

This study looked at more than 104,000 adults who had health check-ups in Southwest China. It compared five simple body measurements to see which best flags people who have high blood pressure: waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), a body shape index (ABSI), and body roundness index (BRI). Four of the measures (WC, BMI, WHtR and BRI) were linked to roughly 56-61% higher odds of hypertension for each standard-deviation increase. ABSI was only weakly linked (9% higher odds). Waist-to-height ratio and body roundness index were best at telling people with and without hypertension apart overall (AUC 0.676), while ABSI was the weakest (0.612). The link between body measurements and hypertension was strongest in young adults (18-35 years) and became weaker with age. In that younger group, waist circumference performed best (AUC 0.763). This research suggests that simple, low-cost body measurements could help with early screening for hypertension, and that the best measure may depend on a person's age. The study is cross-sectional, so it shows associations at one point in time and cannot show that body measurements cause high blood pressure. These measures are screening aids, not diagnostic tools.

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Citation

Lu S, Chen N, Li Z, Zhang Y, Wang W, Li G, et al.. (2026). A cross-sectional study on anthropometric indices and hypertension in Chinese adults: comparison of discriminatory power and age-stratified analysis.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1933929

Key Findings

What This Means

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