Abdominal fat is linked to higher risk of diabetes and death
An observational and genetic study of 126,561 Mexican adults linked higher waist circumference to diagnosed diabetes and vascular-related deaths.
Limit: Diagnosed diabetes was defined partly by self-report
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers analyzed observational and genetic data from 126,561 Mexican adults aged 35 to 74 years in the Mexico City Prospective Study. Participants had an average age of 51 years, and 68% were women.
Observationally, undiagnosed diabetes increased with all measures of body fat, while associations with diagnosed diabetes were flat or U-shaped, consistent with weight loss caused by diabetes. In Mendelian randomization analyses, which evaluate causal links using inherited genetic variants, genetically predicted body fat was strongly associated with diagnosed diabetes. The odds ratio per standard deviation increase was 3.04 for waist circumference and 2.49 for body mass index, with stronger associations for poorly controlled diabetes. Waist circumference also showed the strongest link to 7,086 vascular-metabolic deaths during follow-up.
Why it matters
Diabetes and cardiovascular disease become increasingly common as people age. Evaluating how fat distribution patterns relate to metabolic disease helps researchers understand the contribution of abdominal fat to age-related illness and mortality.
Caveats
Diagnosed diabetes was defined partly by self-report, and the genetic instruments explained only 2% to 3% of the variation in body fat measures. Because the study included Mexican adults aged 35 to 74 years, the findings may not apply to younger age groups or other populations.
