Modification of the relationship between simple anthropometric indices and risk factors by ethnic background☆
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Study participants (men and women) were recruited from staff, students, volunteers, and their friends of 3 local hospitals and the surrounding communities. Apparently healthy participants were eligible if they were over 18 years of age and either of European or South Asian descent. Ethnicity was determined by interview; potential participants were asked the origins of their parents and grandparents. Only those individuals who reported having all known ancestors of either European or South Asian
Results
After excluding smokers and participants taking medications known to affect CVD risk factors, a total of 88 Europeans (35 men and 53 women) and 93 South Asians (34 men and 59 women) were analyzed. Table 1, Table 2 outline the age, anthropometric values, and metabolic risk factors for men and women, respectively. BMI, WC, and WHR were similar between the European and South Asian men and the European and South Asian women. South Asian women were significantly younger, shorter, and had a smaller
Discussion
The presentation of increased body fat is a common predecessor for a number of CVD risk factors. Therefore, targets for BMI and WC are used to identify those at increased risk based on the point at which the risk of mortality is substantially increased, or as a marker for adverse levels of CVD risk factors.4, 12, 25, 26 Our results indicate that ethnic background was a significant modifier of the relationship between both BMI and WC with various CVD risk factors. In particular, ethnicity itself
Acknowledgements
We are indebted to Lida Adler for her work assessing the lipid and glucose measures.
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Supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (S.A.L.) and the University of British Columbia’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (M.T.).