Among Asian Americans, the waist to height ratio is a more sensitive screening tool for diabetes than waist circumference
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
Ellensburg
Event Website
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source
Start Date
16-5-2021
End Date
22-5-2021
Keywords
Diabetes, NHANES, Asian Americans
Abstract
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US and its prevalence is rising. Physicians commonly use a patient’s BMI or waist circumference (WC) for evaluating abdominal obesity (AO) as these have both been associated with diabetes risk. This study used the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey database from 2011-2018 (n=20,052) and showed that a higher percentage of Asian American (AA) adults have diabetes compared to non-Asians (nA) (14.6% vs 12.1%, p=0.004), despite a far lower prevalence of obesity (14% vs 40%, p<0.001) and lower mean WC (88.7cm vs 100.5cm, p<0.001). The prevalence of diabetes was three times greater in normal weight (NW) AA’s (11%) than NW nA’s (4%). This study also evaluated whether WC compared to waist to height ratio (WHtR), which measures AO relative to height, better predicts diabetes in AA and nA’s. Among Asians, WC had a much lower sensitivity (46% of AA’s with diabetes have a high WC) compared to WHtR (89% of AA’s with diabetes have a high WHtR), meaning that WHtR correctly predicts far more patients with diabetes than WC does. The sensitivity of both WC and WHtR for nA’s was similar and high (84% and 88%, respectively). When stratified by BMI categories, WHtR was found to be eight times more sensitive predicting diabetes among NW AA’s compared to WC (86.1% vs 10.7%). Therefore, WHtR is more accurate in assessing AO compared to WC among AA’s, especially in the NW BMI category, and should be used in a physicians’ practice.
Recommended Citation
Wyatt, Kayla, "Among Asian Americans, the waist to height ratio is a more sensitive screening tool for diabetes than waist circumference" (2021). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 49.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2021/COTS/49
Department/Program
Health Sciences
Additional Mentoring Department
https://cwu.studentopportunitycenter.com/among-asian-americans-the-waist-to-height-ratio-is-a-more-sensitive-screening-tool-for-diabetes-than-waist-circumference/
Among Asian Americans, the waist to height ratio is a more sensitive screening tool for diabetes than waist circumference
Ellensburg
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the US and its prevalence is rising. Physicians commonly use a patient’s BMI or waist circumference (WC) for evaluating abdominal obesity (AO) as these have both been associated with diabetes risk. This study used the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey database from 2011-2018 (n=20,052) and showed that a higher percentage of Asian American (AA) adults have diabetes compared to non-Asians (nA) (14.6% vs 12.1%, p=0.004), despite a far lower prevalence of obesity (14% vs 40%, p<0.001) and lower mean WC (88.7cm vs 100.5cm, p<0.001). The prevalence of diabetes was three times greater in normal weight (NW) AA’s (11%) than NW nA’s (4%). This study also evaluated whether WC compared to waist to height ratio (WHtR), which measures AO relative to height, better predicts diabetes in AA and nA’s. Among Asians, WC had a much lower sensitivity (46% of AA’s with diabetes have a high WC) compared to WHtR (89% of AA’s with diabetes have a high WHtR), meaning that WHtR correctly predicts far more patients with diabetes than WC does. The sensitivity of both WC and WHtR for nA’s was similar and high (84% and 88%, respectively). When stratified by BMI categories, WHtR was found to be eight times more sensitive predicting diabetes among NW AA’s compared to WC (86.1% vs 10.7%). Therefore, WHtR is more accurate in assessing AO compared to WC among AA’s, especially in the NW BMI category, and should be used in a physicians’ practice.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2021/COTS/49
Faculty Mentor(s)
David Gee