In developing countries, invasive methods of quantifying cardiovascular risk can prove costly, and thus, prohibitive to many.  As such, we seek evidence that cheaper, less invasive methods will adequately identify cardiovascular risk in the face of the expense associated with more complex methods. Both factor and principal component analyses were used to derive each of two new variables, one from body composition and the other from physiological measurements. Graphical representation of the factor and principal component scores separated persons with hypertension or high waist circumference from those without. The mean values of the factor scores for persons at risk were also further removed from zero than were the mean scores for risk-free individuals. The 95% confidence intervals for the mean scores for risk-free and at-risk persons did not overlap. These data support the hypothesis that waist circumference  or hypertension status is valid marker of cardiovascular risk as estimated by composite measures including several other indices and may be effective screening tools.

factor analysis, principal components analysis, cardiovascular risk, hypertension, waist circumference.