Diabetes in urban African Americans. XII. Anthropometry for assessing municipal hospital outpatients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
Abdominal obesity is associated with insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors, but there has been little information published to advance the use of abdominal anthropometry in the care of diabetic patients.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey of municipal hospital outpatients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (73 men and 142 women of whom 89% were African Americans). Age-adjusted linear regression was used to compare the supine sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD), supine waist circumference, four anthropometric ratios, and the body mass index (kg/m2) for their ability to predict serum fasting C-peptide and lipid levels.


RESULTS
The best predictor of log-transformed C-peptide was SAD/height (p<0.0001 for men; p=0.0003 for women). SAD/thigh circumference was the best predictor of log-transformed triglycerides for men (p=0.002) and of total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol for women (p=0.043). The body mass index was less able to predict C-peptide, HDL cholesterol and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol than was SAD/height or SAD/thigh circumference or waist circumference/height.


CONCLUSIONS
Anthropometric indices of abdominal obesity appear to be correlated with insulin production and lipid risk factors among municipal-hospital, type 2 diabetic patients much as they are in other studied populations. Since anthropometric data are inexpensively obtained and immediately available to the practitioner, their utility for preliminary clinical assessment deserves to be tested in prospective outcome studies.
Kahn
H S
HS
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30303-3219, USA.
Dunbar
V G
VG
Ziemer
D C
DC
Phillips
L S
LS
D000005:Abdomen; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D044383:Black People; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002096:C-Peptide / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D016014:Linear Models; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D016683:Supine Position; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American
D002096:C-Peptide; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008055:Lipids; D014280:Triglycerides