Relation of waist-hip ratio to glucose tolerance, blood pressure, and serum lipids in middle-aged Japanese males.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether waist-hip ratio (WHR) influences glucose tolerance, blood pressure, and serum lipids independently of body mass index (BMI).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SUBJECTS

2,228 male self-defense officials aged 49-55 years in Japan.

MEASUREMENTS

BMI, WHR, serum lipids, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and glucose tolerance status according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria.

RESULTS

Adjustment was made for smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and inter-hospital variation in statistical analysis. Adjusted odds ratios of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were progressively increased with increasing levels of WHR, but not BMI. Both BMI and WHR were independently positively associated with impaired glucose tolerance to almost the same degree. Adjusted means of blood pressure, total cholesterol, and triglycerides were almost linearly increased with increasing levels of both BMI and WHR, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was progressively decreased. Although the associations of BMI and WHR with blood pressure and serum lipids attenuated after mutual adjustment for each, BMI was less influenced by WHR than vice versa, except for triglycerides.

CONCLUSION

WHR is an important contributor not only to NIDDM but also to impaired glucose tolerance, blood pressure, and serum lipids, although the associations of WHR with blood pressure and serum lipids were generally weaker than those of BMI, except for triglycerides.