Anthropometric predictors for cardiovascular risk in Indigenous women in Mexico: an inexpensive alternative in rural clinical practice.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death in Mexico. Although the use of anthropometric indicators facilitates the diagnosis of cardiovascular risk (CVR), their use is limited in rural communities with limited resources. This article evaluated and demonstrated predictive capacity of three anthropometric indexes for CVR in Indigenous women in Mexico from Matlatzinca ethnic group. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 93 Indigenous women was carried out. CVR was calculated with the Framingham risk score and used as the reference method by comparing it with waist circumference (WC), conicity index (CoI) and waist-height index (WHI). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to analyze the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity for each anthropometric index. RESULTS: Cut-off points (and AUC) for each anthropometric index were WHI 0.63 (0.763), CoI 1.29 (0.756) and WC 91 (0.663). CONCLUSION: In this population, WHI presented the greatest discrimination power; it was considered the best predictor of CVR because of its high sensitivity. It was demonstrated that the anthropometric indexes WC, CoI and WHI could be used in clinical practice in rural areas without sufficient resources for serological tests.

Condiciones ambientales en el uso de plantas medicinales en una comunidad otomí de México / Environmental conditions in the use of medicinal plants in an Otomí community in Mexico

El objetivo del presente artículo es proporcionar información actualizada sobre el uso de plantas medicinales en una comunidad otomí que se localiza en el Estado de México, adentro del altiplano central mexicano. Mediante el método etnográfico y etnobiológico se estudian el uso tradicional de las plantas medicinales, las formas en que las personas acceden a ellas y las innovaciones que se realizan en torno a la curación con plantas y métodos alternativos. El artículo discute los procesos que originan los cambios en el sistema de salud-enfermedad entre los otomíes del Estado de México y la percepción de la población de dichos cambios. Por lo anterior, se concluye que el conocimiento de plantas medicinales en la comunidad se sitúa en un continuum entre lo tradicional, lo moderno y lo innovador.