Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) has been reported to be more strongly associated with cardiometabolic risk factors among non-obese individuals than BMI and waist circumference (WC). A body shape index (ABSI) and body roundness index (BRI) have been proposed recently to assess obesity-related disorders or mortalities. Our aim was to compare the ability of ABSI and BRI with that of WHtR to identify cardiometabolic risk factors in Chinese adults with normal BMI and WC.

Receiver-operating characteristic curves and areas under the curve (AUC) were employed to evaluate the ability of the indices (WHtR, BRI, ABSI) to identify metabolic risk factors and to determine the indices’ optimal cut-off values. The value of each index that resulted in maximization of the Youden index (sensitivity + specificity – 1) was defined as optimal. Differences in the AUC values between the indices were also evaluated.

Individuals attending a voluntary health check-up in Beijing, China, July–December 2015, were recruited to the study.

Non-obese adults (n 1596).

Among both genders, ABSI exhibited the lowest AUC value for identifying each risk factor among the three indices; the AUC value of BRI for identifying each risk factor was very close to that of WHtR, and no significant differences were observed between the AUC values of the two new indices.

When evaluating cardiometabolic risk factors among non-obese adults, WHtR was a simple and effective index in the assessment of cardiometabolic risk factors, BRI could be used as an alternative body index to WHtR, while ABSI could not.

Vitamin D insufficiency is known to be related to cardiometabolic disorders; however, the associations among serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration and metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents have not yet been clearly delineated. For this reason, we investigated the relationship among serum 25(OH)D concentration and metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk factors among Korean adolescents.

We performed a cross-sectional analysis and used hierarchical multivariate logistic regression analysis models to adjust for confounding variables.

We used the data gathered during the 2008–2009 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES).

Our subjects included 1504 Korean adolescents aged 12–18 years who participated in the KNHANES.

Vitamin D insufficiency, defined as 25(OH)D concentration <50 nmol/l, was found in 75·3 % of Korean adolescents and was associated with an increased risk of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Waist circumference and BMI were the most closely correlated cardiometabolic components of metabolic syndrome according to serum 25(OH)D status, but no significant relationship was found between serum 25(OH)D concentration and insulin resistance or for the risks for high blood pressure, hyperglycaemia, reduced HDL-cholesterol or hypertriacylglycerolaemia, with or without adjustment for confounding variables.

Low serum 25(OH)D concentration appears to be associated with several cardiometabolic risk factors and an increased risk of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Korean adolescents.