title: BMI and diabetes risk in Singaporean Chinese.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Increased BMI is a robust risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Paradoxically, South Asians have relatively low BMIs despite their high prevalence of type 2 diabetes. We examined the association between BMI and incident type 2 diabetes because detailed prospective cohort data on this topic in Asians are scarce.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a prospective analysis of 37,091 men and women aged 45-74 years in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, using Cox regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk of incident type 2 diabetes significantly increased beginning with BMIs 18.5-23.0 kg/m(2)(relative risk 2.47 [95% CI 1.75-3.48]) and continued in a monotonic fashion across the spectrum of BMI. Results were stronger for younger than for older adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BMIs considered lean and normal in Singaporean Chinese are strongly associated with increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes. This association weakened with advanced age but remained significant.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Odegaard
authors.forename: Woon-Puay
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vazquez
authors.forename: Kazuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Hin-Peng
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Mimi C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pereira