BMI and diabetes risk in Singaporean Chinese
- Andrew O. Odegaard, MPH1,
- Woon-Puay Koh, PhD2,
- Gabrielle Vazquez, PhD1,
- Kazuko Arakawa, MS3,
- Hin-Peng Lee, MD, PhD2,
- Mimi C. Yu, PhD3 and
- Mark A. Pereira, PhD (map{at}umn.edu)1
- 1Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- 2Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore
- 3Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract
Objectives: Increased body mass index (BMI) is a robust risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Paradoxically, South Asians have relatively low BMI's despite their high prevalence of type 2 diabetes. We examined the association between body mass index (BMI) and incident type 2 diabetes as detailed prospective cohort data on this topic in Asians are scarce.
Research design and methods: 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 in BMI's (18.5-23.0 kg/m2) RR=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: BMI's 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
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- Received September 16, 2008.
- Accepted March 12, 2009.
- Copyright © American Diabetes Association
