title: Body mass index and waist circumference both contribute to differences in insulin-mediated glucose disposal in nondiabetic adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Overweight and obese individuals are more likely to be insulin resistant and at increased risk of adverse clinical outcomes. Questions remain as to whether waist circumference (WC) or body mass index (BMI) most effectively identifies insulin-resistant individuals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study quantified insulin-mediated glucose uptake (IMGU) in 330 apparently healthy volunteers and compared the relation between this value and measurements of WC and BMI.
  
  
  METHODS
  IMGU was quantified via determination of the steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG) concentration during the insulin-suppression test. Differences in SSPG concentrations due to variations in WC within a given BMI category, as well as those due to differences in BMI within a given WC classification, were then compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BMI and WC correlated with each other (r = 0.78, P < 0.001) and equally with SSPG concentrations (r = 0.58 and 0.57, respectively; P < 0.001). When stratified by BMI, abdominally obese subjects within the overweight BMI category had higher SSPG concentrations than did those with a normal WC (P < 0.05). When classified by WC, subjects in the overweight BMI category had greater SSPG concentrations than did subjects in the normal BMI category within the normal WC category (P < 0.01), as did subjects in the obese BMI category in comparison with subjects in the overweight BMI category within the obese WC category (P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The more overweight or obese a person, the greater the degree of insulin resistance; differences in adiposity accounted for approximately one-third of the variation in IMGU, irrespective of the index used. Furthermore, there was no difference in the relation between the degree of insulin resistance and either index of adiposity.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Helke M F
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Farin
authors.forename: Fahim
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.forename: Gerald M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Reaven
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D012307:Risk Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D005947:Glucose