Relationship between cardiothoracic ratio and some selected anthropometric parameters in relation to gender in an adult Nigerian population

Abstract

This study investigated the normal values of the cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) and asses its relationship to other anthropometric parameters like height, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, body mass index (BMI), body surface area (BSA), and waist hip ratio (WHR) of healthy young adult Nigerians in a University setting in relation to gender. In this prospective study, a total of 567 subjects (328 females and 239 males) with mean age of 21.93 ± 7.42 years from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, were used. CTR was obtained by dividing cardiac diameter by thoracic diameter while body mass index was calculated based on the formula Weight (Kg)/Height 2(Kg/m²). The average CTR in males was 0.4310 ± 0.03 while in females it was 0.4449 ± 0.042 showing a significant difference (P≤ 0.05). The mean BMI for males and females were 22.82 ± 2.85 (Kg/m²) and 23.73 ± 4.43 (Kg/m²) respectively. The mean BSA for males and females were 1.844 ± 0.140 and 1.716±0.169 respectively. There was a significant positive correlation between CTR and other parameters measured except for height which had a significant negative correlation. Again except BMI which had a moderate association with CTR, others only had a weak association (*P<0.05). In conclusion, the CTR in males was lower than that in females while the cardiac diameter in males were higher than that in females indicating sexual dimorphism. There was a significant positive correlation between CTR and other parameters measured except for height which had a significant negative correlation. Therefore chest x-ray is highly recommended as part of work up for cardiovascular risk assessment.

Keywords: Cardiothoracic, Anthropometric, Gender, Ratio