RELATION OF WAIST-HIP RATIO TO GLUCOSE-TOLERANCE, BLOOD-PRESSURE, ANDSERUM-LIPIDS IN MIDDLE-AGED JAPANESE MALES

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether waist-hip ratio (WHR) influences glu cose 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 acti vity, and inter-hospital variation in statistical analysis. Adjusted o dds ratios of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were pro gressively increased with increasing levels of WHR, but not BMI. Both BMI and WHR were independently positively associated with impaired glu cose tolerance to almost the same degree. Adjusted means of blood pres sure, total cholesterol, and triglycerides were almost linearly increa sed with increasing levels of both BMI and WHR, and high-density lipop rotein cholesterol was progressively decreased. Although the associati ons of BMI and WHR with blood pressure and serum lipids attenuated aft er mutual adjustment for each, BMI was less influenced by WHR than vic e versa, except for triglycerides. CONCLUSION: WHR is an important con tributor not only to NIDDM but also to impaired glucose tolerance, blo od pressure, and serum lipids, although the associations of WHR with b lood pressure and serum lipids were generally weaker than those of BMI , except for triglycerides.