Background: Central obesity is highly prevalent in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS).
Objectives: To define cut-off points of waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and conicity index (C-Index) to discriminate metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Brazilian women with PCOS.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study, anthropometric, biochemical and clinical parameters were measured in 113 Brazilian PCOS women (27.2 ± 4.5 years). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to find out the cut-off points of anthropometric indices to predict MetS according with National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP-III) criteria.
Results: Considering the ROC curve analysis the WC and WHtR had a similar performance in predicting MetS and these parameters were better than WHR and C-Index. The optimal cut-off values of the anthropometric indices for discriminate MetS were: WC = 95 cm; WHtR = 0.59; WHR = 0.88; and C-Index = 1.25. By using these cut-off points the sensitivity and specificity rates of WC and WHtR were higher than those observed for WHR and C-Index.
Conclusion: Our results indicated that WC and WHtR are more accurate than WHR and C-Index to predict MetS in Brazilian PCOS women.