Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: Obesity is a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study evaluated the relationship between central obesity and fasting plasma glucose (FPG).

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study involving five hundred and twenty one (521) adult participants (134 males and 387 females) of a community health survey in Sagamu, Isara and Ode-Remo, Nigeria. The waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) of the participants were determined. Central obesity was defined as (1) WC ≧94 and ≧80 cm in men and women respectively; (2) WHR ≧0.90 and ≧0.85 in men and women respectively; (3) WHtR ≧0.50 in both men and women. FBG was measured in the morning after an overnight fast and was determined by the glucose oxidase method. Data were analysed with SPSS version 20.

Results: Compared with men, women were significantly older (50.1±15.3 years vs 44.2±16.9 years, P<0.001), and had higher mean WC (84.6±15.2 cm vs 79.2±12.4 cm, P<0.001), WHR (0.88±0.09 vs 0.91±0.61 P<0.01) and WHtR (0.54±0.09 vs 0.48±0.07, P<0.001). There was no significant difference in the mean FPG in men (83.25±16.54 mg%) and women (84.13±22.29 mg %), P>0.05. In men, there was a positive but weak correlation between FPG and central obesity (WC, 0.333, P<0.001; WHR, 0.180, P=0.038; WHtR, 0.282, P=0.001). There was insignificant correlation between FPG and central obesity in women. The mean FPG of obese men were significantly higher than those who were not obese (94.62±25.86 mg% vs 81.14±13.29 mg%, P<0.05 with WC; 86.56±20.09 mg% vs 80.04±11.42 mg%, P<0.05 with WHR; 89.23±20.34 mg% vs 79.92±12.92 mg%, P< 0.01 with WHtR). The mean FPG of obese women was insignificantly higher than those who were not obese.

Conclusions: There was positive correlation between central obesity and FPG. Men with central obesity had higher FPG compared with men who were not obese.