Proposed cut‐off values of the waist circumference for metabolic syndrome based on visceral fat volume in a Japanese population

AIM/INTRODUCTION: Waist circumference (WC) is the most important parameter for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. The present study was carried out to obtain optimal WC cut‐off values for diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in a Japanese population based on the measurement of total intra‐abdominal visceral fat volume (VFV), which could be expected to reflect visceral obesity more precisely than visceral fat area. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 405 Japanese persons undergoing health screening were investigated. visceral fat volume was calculated from the data in 700–800 computed tomography slices from the top of the liver to the floor of the pelvic cavity. Then, receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the cut‐off value of the VFV/height ratio. Subsequently, the corresponding WC value was obtained by linear regression analysis. RESULTS: The cut‐off value of the VFV/height ratio was 2,317 cm(3)/m in men and 1,425 cm(3)/m in women. The sensitivity and specificity of the ratio were 52.9 and 86.4% in men vs 63.4 and 82.2% in women, respectively. The corresponding cut‐off value of WC was 86.0 cm in men and 80.9 cm in women. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed cut‐off values of WC for metabolic syndrome are 85 cm in Japanese men and 80 cm in Japanese women.