Gender Differences of the Anthropometric Indices of Abdominal Obesity in Individuals with COPD

COPD is a chronic inflammatory lung disease which is associated with variety of co-morbidities, as the obesity and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most frequent. The aim of the current study was to explore the correlations of the age and BMI with the anthropometric indices associated with abdominal obesity in individuals with COPD and to explore the possible difference between the genders. Material and methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 851 citizens from the region of Yambol, Bulgaria. They were interviewed and blood pressure was measured during events organized at the World Diabetes Day, November 14, 2016-2018. One hundred and three of the individuals reported previous diagnosis of COPD. The further statistical analyses were performed only in this group of individuals applying SPSS 16.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc.). Results: Thirty three (32%) of the individuals with COPD were men with a mean age of 58.12 +/- 13.76 years, while the rest of 70 (68%) persons were women with a mean age of 66.70 +/- 10.73 years (p=0.001). The body mass index (BMI) correlated positively with the anthropometric indices associated with central obesity: the waist circumferences (WC, r=0.601, p<0.0001), the hip circumferences (HC, r=0.619, p<0.0001) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR, r=0.214, p=0.033). The age correlated positively only with the WHR ratio in men (r=0.390, p=0.025), but not in women. When comparing the BMI between genders we did not observed difference (p=0.802). However when classified into groups according to the BMI, women were more frequently with normal weight (30.4%) and obese (33.3%) compared to men (25.8% and 16.1%, respectively), while men were more often with overweight than women (58.1% vs. 36.2%, p=0.091). Men had higher WC (99.23 +/- 11.40 cm, p=0.080) and especially WHR (0.922 +/- 0.067, p<0.0001) than women (94.17 +/- 14.50 cm and 0.855 +/- 0.084, respectively). According to the WHR the abdominal obesity was more frequently observed in men with COPD (78.8%) than in COPD women (58.6%. p=0.045). The measured high blood pressure was significantly associated with central obesity both in women (p=0.038) and in men (p=0.035).Conclusions: The results of our study confirm the positive correlation of the BMI with other anthropometric indices associated with abdominal obesity. Based on the results we could conclude that central obesity is more common in men than in women and determines a risk for higher blood pressure in patients with COPD.