BMI and Diabetes Risk in Singaporean Chinese

  1. Andrew O. Odegaard, MPH1,
  2. Woon-Puay Koh, PHD2,
  3. Gabrielle Vazquez, PHD1,
  4. Kazuko Arakawa, MS3,
  5. Hin-Peng Lee, MD, PHD2,
  6. Mimi C. Yu, PHD3 and
  7. Mark A. Pereira, PHD1
  1. 1Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota;
  2. 2Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore;
  3. 3Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  1. Corresponding author: Mark A. Pereira, map{at}umn.edu.

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.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND 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/m2(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.

Footnotes

  • The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

    • Received September 16, 2008.
    • Accepted March 12, 2009.

  • Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for details.

« Previous | Next Article »Table of Contents

This Article

  1. Published online before print March 26, 2009, doi: 10.2337/dc08-1674 Diabetes Care June 2009 vol. 32 no. 6 1104-1106
  1. Free via Creative Commons: CC
  2. » Abstract
  3. Full Text
  4. Full Text (PDF)
  5. Online-Only Appendix
  6. All Versions of this Article:
    1. dc08-1674v1
    2. 32/6/1104 most recent

Current Issue

  1. November 2009, 32 (11)
  1. Current Issue
  1. Alert me to new issues of Diabetes Care