Comparison of waist-height ratio and other obesity indices in the prediction of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

BACKGROUND: Waist-height ratio (WHtR) is increasingly being studied as a simple and effective measure of central obesity. Reports have shown that WHtR is a better predictor of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases when compared to traditional obesity indices like body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-hip ratio (WHR). This study is therefore aimed at comparing WHtR with other obesity indices in the prediction of peripheral neuropathy in persons with diabetes mellitus (DM). METHODOLOGY: One thousand and forty persons with DM were enrolled following consent. Relevant details of history were obtained, followed by physical examinations. Data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 23. Logistic regression was used to compare the odds ratio of obesity indices in the prediction of peripheral neuropathy. The level of significance used was p = 0.05. RESULTS: Logistic regression showed that WHtR had the highest odds ratio (OR) for the prediction of “probable” diabetic peripheral neuropathy (OR 9.11, 95% CI 3.07–47.97, p = 0.002), followed by WC (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.09–4.05, p = 0.004), and BMI (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.00–3.99, p = 0.019) after correction for age; systemic hypertension; duration of DM; control of SBP, DBP, HbA1c, FPG, and 2HrPP. CONCLUSION: WHtR has the highest odds ratio in the prediction of “probable” diabetic peripheral neuropathy in both genders, followed by WC in the males and BMI in the females.