THE AGE-PREVALENCE PROFILE OF ABDOMINAL OBESITY AMONG PATIENTS IN A DIABETES REFERRAL CLINIC IN JAMAICA

Generalised obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension and premature death, but abdominal or central obesity is even more closely related to these. Diabetes causes acceler ated atherosclerosis and this results in peripheral vascular and ischa emic heart disease and stroke, major causes of death in diabetics in t he Caribbean. Diabetics who have abdominal obesity are therefore at in creased risk for these events. 485 patients attending the Diabetes Ref erral Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica, w ere evaluated for abdominal obesity based on the ratio between their w aist and hip measurements. There was an increase in the numbers of dia betics with increasing age. Abdominal obesity was significantly more p revalent among females (90%) than among males (34.9%) (X-2 = 142; p < 0.0001), and massive obesity was detected in 31.1% of females. However , the prevalence of abdominal obesity among males and females was not significantly age-related. Given the high prevalence of obesity in thi s clinic population, more precise studies of abdominal obesity associa ted morbidity in diabetics should be undertaken.