Correlation of Anthropometric Indices and Age with Fasting Plasma Glucose among Inhabitants of Ogun State, South-West Nigeria

Background: Type 2 diabetes has assumed epidemic proportion. Several reports have linked both general and central obesity with diabetes mellitus but there are ethnic differences between adiposity, visceral adipose tissue and type 2 diabetes. This study aims to determine the correlation of anthropometric indices and age with fasting plasma glucose (FPG) in south-west Nigeria.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey involving 521 adult participants comprising of 134 (25.7%) males and 387 (74.3%) females. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were determined by standard protocols. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was determined by glucose oxidase method. Student’s t-test was employed to compare the means of FPG of the obese and non-obese participants.

Results: The mean FPG of obese men was significantly higher than those of non-obese men (94.62±25.86 mg/dL vs 81.14±13.29 mg/dL, P=.029 with WC; 86.56±20.09 mg/dL vs 80.04±11.42 mg/dL, P=.024 with WHR; 89.23±20.34 mg/dL vs 79.92±12.92 mg/dL, p=.006 with WHtR; 91.4±23.4 mg/dL vs 80.5±12.4 mg/dL, P= .013 with BMI). Among the women, FPG was significantly greater in those with general obesity compared to the non-obese in the fifth decade (81.93±11.59 mg/dL vs 75.3±88.18 mg/dL, P=.025). Similarly women with central obesity had greater FPG compared with the non-obese between the fifth to sixth decades: WC,94.34±40.89 mg/dL vs 77.28±8.04 mg/dL, P=.009; WHR,81.73±12.13 mg/dL vs 75.76±6.84 mg/dL, P=.016; WHtR,95.00±40.16 mg/dL vs 74.41±6.51 mg/dL, P=.001)

Conclusions: Plasma glucose correlated with obesity. Participants with obesity had higher mean fasting plasma glucose compared with those who were not obese. The difference was apparent among women between the fifth to sixth decades only. Among the men, the difference was observed with only WHR between the seventh to eight decades. Preventive strategies may need to be directed at certain age groups.