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The following is a summary of “Association between body roundness index and mortality in diabetes,” published in the April 2025 issue of BMC Cardiovascular Disorders by Liu et al. 

The relationship between the body roundness index (BRI) and the risks of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in individuals with diabetes remains inadequately characterized. This study sought to investigate the association between BRI and mortality outcomes in a diabetic cohort.

A total of 8,227 participants diagnosed with diabetes were selected from the 1999–2018 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database. Associations between BRI and both all-cause and CVD-specific mortality were evaluated using multifactorial Cox proportional hazards regression models. Multivariate-adjusted restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses were also performed to explore potential nonlinear relationships.

Over a median follow-up period of 7.25 years, 27.22% of the cohort died, with 9.18% of deaths attributable to cardiovascular causes. After adjusting for a comprehensive range of confounding variables, including demographic factors, clinical characteristics, and lifestyle behaviors, higher BRI levels remained significantly associated with increased risks of both all-cause and CVD mortality among patients with diabetes. Furthermore, RCS analysis demonstrated no significant evidence of a nonlinear association between BRI and all-cause mortality (P for nonlinearity = 0.29) or CVD mortality (P for nonlinearity = 0.73). Notably, BRI exhibited a stronger predictive association with mortality outcomes compared to other conventional body composition and metabolic indices.

These findings suggest that in individuals with diabetes, BRI serves as an independent predictor of both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Given its ease of measurement and superior predictive performance, BRI may represent a valuable clinical tool for risk stratification and management in this high-risk population.

Source: bmccardiovascdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12872-025-04689-6