BMI compared with central obesity indicators in relation to diabetes and hypertension in Asians.
OBJECTIVE
To compare BMI with waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-stature ratio (WSR) in association with diabetes or hypertension.


METHODS
Cross-sectional data from 16 cohorts from the DECODA (Diabetes Epidemiology: Collaborative Analysis of Diagnostic criteria in Asia) study, comprising 9,095 men and 11,732 women, aged 35-74 years, of different ethnicities were included in this meta-analysis.


RESULTS
Age-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for diabetes in men (women) for 1 s.d. increase in BMI, WC, WHR, and WSR were 1.52 (1.59), 1.54 (1.70), 1.53 (1.50), and 1.62 (1.70), respectively; and the corresponding ORs for hypertension were 1.68 (1.55), 1.66 (1.51), 1.45 (1.28), and 1.63 (1.50). Paired homogeneity tests (BMI with each of the three) adjusted for age and cohort showed that diabetes had stronger association with WSR than BMI (P=0.001) in men but with WC and WSR than BMI (both P<0.05) in women. Hypertension had stronger association with BMI than WHR in men (P<0.001) and had the strongest with BMI than the others (WHR P<0.001; WSR P<0.01; and WC P<0.05) in women. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves adjusted for age and cohort were slightly larger for diabetes for WSR 0.735 (0.748) in men (women) and WC 0.749 (women only) than BMI 0.725 (0.742) while for hypertension larger for BMI 0.760 (0.766) than WHR 0.748 (0.751), but their 95% CIs were all overlapped.


CONCLUSIONS
WSR was stronger than BMI in association with diabetes, but these indicators were equally strongly associated with hypertension in Asians.
Nyamdorj
R
R
Qiao
Q
Q
Lam
T H
TH
Tuomilehto
J
J
Ho
S Y
SY
Pitkäniemi
J
J
Nakagami
T
T
Mohan
V
V
Janus
E D
ED
Ferreira
S R G
SR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio