"A Body Shape Index" outperformed traditional measures like body mass index in predicting colorectal cancer risk among participants with metabolic syndrome, with an area under the curve of 0.668, according to a recent study.

In the cross-sectional study, published in BMC Gastroenterology, investigators examined the association between "A Body Shape Index" (ABSI) and the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Utilizing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018, the investigators aimed to assess the predictive value of ABSI, a metric incorporating waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and height compared with traditional anthropometric measures.

The study included 16,018 U.S. adults diagnosed with MetS, after excluding participants with non-CRC cancers, pediatric patients, and those with incomplete ABSI data. The mean age of participants was 51.8 years, and 50.3% and 49.7% of them were male and female, respectively. ABSI was calculated using the formula ABSI = WC / (BMI^(2/3) × Height^(1/2)). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between ABSI and CRC incidence, while receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves assessed predictive accuracy.

The results showed that each 1 unit increase in ABSI was associated with a 43% higher risk of developing CRC (odds ratio [OR]: = 1.433, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.116–1.841, P = .005) after adjusting for confounders. Participants in the highest ABSI quartile exhibited over double the CRC risk compared with those in the lowest quartile (OR = 2.426, 95% CI = 1.010–5.823, P = .047). Subgroup analyses revealed a stronger association among participants under 60 years of age (OR = 2.612, 95% CI = 1.032–6.609, P = .043) and males (OR = 2.251, 95% CI = 1.726–2.935, P < .001).

ROC analysis demonstrated that ABSI had a superior predictive accuracy for CRC risk (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.668, 95% CI = 0.624–0.713) compared with traditional metrics such as BMI (AUC = 0.531) and WC (AUC = 0.554).

The study reported that ABSI showed greater predictive accuracy for CRC risk in MetS populations compared with conventional measures. The cross-sectional nature of the study was suited for identifying associations but did not permit conclusions about causation.

Full disclosures can be found in the published study.