INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF AGE AND THE BODY-MASS INDEX WITH RISK-FACTORS OF NON-INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES IN EUROPEAN AND MIGRANT ASIAN MALES

A comparative study of the interrelationships of age and the body mass index (BMI) with several risk factors for non-insulin-dependent diabe tes mellitus (NIDDM) in adult White European (hereafter called Europea n n = 262) and migrant Indian (n = 39) and Pakistani (n = 100) males r esiding in Peterborough, East Anglia, revealed significantly lower mea n total cholesterol (TC), but higher mean diastolic blood pressure (DB P) in Asian men. Similar associations between age and fasting blood gl ucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), systolic (SEP), and diastolic (DB P) blood pressure were observed in Asian and European men, but TC, SEP and DBP differed between the ethnic groups. The BMI showed a signific ant relationship (after removal of the age effect) with SEP and DBP in all ethnic groups, but there was no significant ethnic group heteroge neity in the associations of BMI with FBG, TC, SEP and DBP. The distri butions (age and BMI controlled) of TC, SEP and DBP were significantly different in Asians compared with Europeans. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc .