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Short stature and leg length are associated with risk of diabetes and obesity. However, it remains unclear whether this association is observed in Asians. We evaluated the association between short stature and increased risk for diabetes using the Korean National Health Screening (KNHS) dataset.
We assessed diabetes development in 2015 in 21,122,422 non-diabetic Koreans (mean age 43 years) enrolled in KNHS from 2009 to 2012 using International Classification of Diseases 10th (ICD-10) code and anti-diabetic medication prescription. Risk was measured in age- and sex-dependent quintile groups of baseline height (20 to 39, 40 to 59, ≥60 years).
During median 5.6-year follow-up, 532,918 cases (2.5%) of diabetes occurred. The hazard ratio (HR) for diabetes development gradually increased from the 5th (reference) to 1st quintile group of baseline height after adjustment for confounding factors (1.000, 1.076 [1.067 to 1.085], 1.097 [1.088 to 1.107], 1.141 [1.132 to 1.151], 1.234 [1.224 to 1.244]), with similar results in analysis by sex. The HR per 5 cm height increase was lower than 1.00 only in those with fasting blood glucose (FBG) below 100 mg/dL (0.979 [0.975 to 0.983]), and in lean individuals (body mass index [BMI] 18.5 to 23 kg/m2: 0.993 [0.988 to 0.998]; BMI <18.5 kg/m2: 0.918 [0.9 to 0.935]).
Height was inversely associated with diabetes risk in this nationwide study of Korean adults. This association did not differ by sex, and was significant in lean individuals and those with normal FBG levels.
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Waist circumference (WC) is a well-known obesity index that predicts cardiovascular disease (CVD). We studied the relationship between baseline WC and development of incident myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke (IS) using a nationwide population-based cohort, and evaluated if its predictability is better than body mass index (BMI).
Our study included 21,749,261 Koreans over 20 years of age who underwent the Korean National Health Screening between 2009 and 2012. The occurrence of MI or IS was investigated until the end of 2015 using National Health Insurance Service data.
A total of 127,289 and 181,637 subjects were newly diagnosed with MI and IS. The incidence rate and hazard ratio of MI and IS increased linearly as the WC level increased, regardless of adjustment for BMI. When the analyses were performed according to 11 groups of WC, the lowest risk of MI was found in subjects with WC of 70 to 74.9 and 65 to 69.9 cm in male and female, and the lowest risk of IS in subjects with WC of 65 to 69.9 and 60 to 64.9 cm in male and female, respectively. WC showed a better ability to predict CVD than BMI with smaller Akaike information criterion. The optimal WC cutoffs were 84/78 cm for male/female for predicting MI, and 85/78 cm for male/female for predicting IS.
WC had a significant linear relationship with the risk of MI and IS and the risk began to increase from a WC that was lower than expected.
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