Does the Additional Component of Calf Circumference Refine Metabolic Syndrome in Correlating With Cardiovascular Risk?

Context: Calf circumference (CC) was a useful anthropometric tool, but there was limited study on the effect of CC on metabolic syndrome (MetS) for cardiovascular risk.

Objective: The objective of our study was to determine whether adding CC as a component of MetS refined correlating MetS with cardiovascular, all-cause, and cancer mortality risks.

Design, Setting, Patients, and Interventions: From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data set for 1999 through 2002, we analyzed four types of MetS: (1) increased waist circumference and two or more of four MetS components (WaistMetS); (2) decreased CC and two or more of four MetS components (CalfMetS); (3) increased waist-to-calf ratio and two or more of four MetS components (WCRMetS); and (4) decreased CC and three or more of five MetS components (CC+MetS).

Primary Outcome Measure: The cause-specific hazard ratios were measured as categorized by the four types of MetS.

Results: For cardiovascular mortality, the adjusted hazard ratios for WaistMetS, CalfMetS, WCRMetS, and CC+MetS were 1.867, 1.871, 1.949, and 2.306, respectively (all P < 0.001). Notably, CalfMetS showed the strongest positive correlation with serum C-reactive protein levels, and WCRMetS had the strongest positive relationship with homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance.

Conclusions: Adding CC to the components of MetS correlated with higher cardiovascular and all-cause mortality risk than the traditional definition of MetS.