The Association Between Abdominal Obesity and Diabetes among Middle-aged and Older Adults with Normal BMI

  Objective  To explore the relationship between abdominal obesity and diabetes among middle-aged and older adults with normal body mass index (BMI) and to provide reference information for formulating targeted diabetes prevention and control measures for this population.

  Methods  Data were extracted from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) done in 2015. Middle-aged and older adults who were aged 45 and older and had normal BMI were included in the study. According to their status of diabetes, the subjects were divided into two groups, non-diabetes and diabetes groups. χ² test was used to investigate the difference between two groups. Logistic regression was used to do the multivariate analysis of factors influencing diabetes.

  Results  A total of 5 197 middle-aged and older adults with normal BMI ranging between 18.5 and 24 kg/m² were included. The prevalence of diabetes was 11.26% (585/5 197) and the prevalence of abdominal obesity was 41.56% (2 160/5 197). Univariate analysis showed that the difference in age, residence, the status of hypertension, dyslipidemia and abdominal obesity between non-diabetic group and the diabetic group were statistically significant (P<0.01). The prevalence of diabetes among adults with abdominal obesity was 14.2% (307/2 160) and that among people with no abdominal obesity was 9.2% (278/3 037). Compared with people with no abdominal obesity, the prevalence of diabetes among people with abdominal obesity was higher and the difference were statistically significant (P<0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, among middle-aged and older adults with normal BMI, those with abdominal obesity, aged 60 years and older, living in urban areas, having hypertension and having dyslipidemia had higher probability of developing diabetes.

  Conclusion  Abdominal obesity and diabetes are becoming a serious problem among middle-aged and older adults with normal BMI and abdominal obesity may be related to higher risks of diabetes. It is recommended that more attention is given to abdominal obesity in this population to reduce the possibilities of diabetes.