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Central obesity predicts the worsening of glycemia in southern Chinese

International Journal of Obesity volume 25, pages 1789–1793 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

AIMS: The association between obesity and type 2 diabetes has been found to be consistent across different ethnic populations. Our aim was to study the contribution of obesity to the development of type 2 diabetes in a non-obese Chinese population with a high prevalence of diabetes (9.8% in 1995–1996).

METHODS: Six-hundred and forty-four non-diabetic subjects were recruited from the Hong Kong Cardiovascular Risk Factor Prevalence Study (1995–1996). This was a community-based population study which involved the use of a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and 1985 World Health Organization diagnostic criteria. Their glycemic status was reassessed at 2 y.

RESULTS: In subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (n=322), the annual progression rate to diabetes (4.8%; 95% CI 2.5–7.1%), was 8-fold that in control subjects (0.6%; 95% CI 0.0–1.4%; P<0.001). Baseline waist–hip ratio (WHR; OR per unit increase=1.05; 95% CI 1.02–1.07, P=0.0003) and post-load 2 h plasma glucose (OR per unit increase=2.02; 95% CI 1.76–2.34, P<0.0001) were significantly associated with glycemic status at 2 y in stepwise polytomous logistic regression analysis. Subjects with high baseline waist circumference or WHR (≥median) were more likely to have worsening of glucose tolerance at 2 y than those with low waist circumference (<median; conversion to diabetes, OR 3.8, P=0.001) or WHR (<median; conversion to diabetes, OR 2.8, P=0.019).

CONCLUSION: Abdominal obesity, readily assessed by the measurement of WHR or waist circumference, was for the first time shown prospectively to be independently associated with the deterioration of glucose tolerance in a Chinese population.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by grants from the Hong Kong Research Grant Council (HKU7290/97M) and Health Services Research Committee (HRSC no. 631011). We gratefully acknowledge Dr SY Ho for his statistical advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    NMS Wat & KSL Lam

  2. Department of Community Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    TH Lam

  3. Clinical Biochemistry Unit, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    ED Janus

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  1. NMS Wat
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  2. TH Lam
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Correspondence to KSL Lam.

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Wat, N., Lam, T., Janus, E. et al. Central obesity predicts the worsening of glycemia in southern Chinese. Int J Obes 25, 1789–1793 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801834

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