Beyond Asian-Specific Cutoffs: Gender Effects on the Predictability of Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference, and...

This study examines the gender effect on the associations between body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist circumference to height ratio (WHtR) with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) when Asian-specific cutoffs are applied among Asians living in the USA.

This study used the pooled 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to produce a sample of 900 Asians who were non-pregnant and non-Hispanic aged 20-65. Bivariate and general linear regression analyses were conducted based on gender and age group.

The group variations of BMI, WC, and WHtR all exhibited different patterns between males and females. Among the bivariate correlations with HbA1c, WHtR was the strongest in males and WC was the strongest in females. All three measures performed better in predicting HbA1c among younger Asians. WC predicted more of the variance in HbA1c among females, whereas WHtR predicted more of the variance in HbA1c among males.

WC and WHtR are two anthropometric measures that serve as appropriate proxy of HbA1c for gauging the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among Asians living in the USA. They can be easily performed at non-clinical settings and should be used by individuals to monitor their health and be a part of disease prevention.