J. Escobedodelapena et al., HIGHER PREVALENCE OF DIABETES IN HYPERTENSIVE SUBJECTS WITH UPPER-BODY FAT DISTRIBUTION, Revista de Investigacion Clinica, 50(1), 1998, pp. 5-12
Objective. To analyze the association of hypertension and upper body f
at distribution on the occurrence of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mel
litus in Mexicans. Material and methods. It was a population-based cro
ss-sectional study in Cuajimalpa, a district of Mexico City. A total o
f 1066 subjects were home interviewed, and attended our clinic for fas
ting plasma glucose sampling, blood pressure and anthropometric measur
ements. Diabetes was defined according to the World Health Organizatio
n criteria, and hypertension as a blood pressure equal to or greater t
han 140/90. The ratio of upper to lower body skinfolds was used to est
imate body fat distribution. Results. The prevalence of diabetes was 1
2.0%. There was a significant positive trend in the age and sex adjust
ed prevalence of diabetes according to the magnitude of hypertension (
p = 0.0006) and upper body fat distribution (p = 0.007). The age and s
ex adjusted prevalence in normotensive subjects with lower body fat di
stribution was 7.1% (95% confidence interval 5.9-8.2) whereas it was 1
9.9% (CI 17.0-22.8) in those with hypertension and upper body fat dist
ribution. The prevalence of diabetes in Mexicans was high and it may b
e related to a genetic susceptibility for an insulin resistance syndro
me. Conclusions. These results indicate that there is a dose response
effect in the association of hypertension and upper body fat distribut
ion with diabetes in Mexicans, and that there may be an interaction in
the effect of hypertension and body fat distribution in this syndrome
.