Anthropometric indices as novel markers of risk in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among Nigerian adults in Zamfara State

Body mass index (BMI) has traditionally been used as an indicator of body size measure and composition. Although, other measures of adiposity of the abdomen such as waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), neck circumference (NC) have been suggested as being superior to BMI in predicting disease outcome. This study was designed to compare different anthropometric variables in term of their ability to predict type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This was a case-control study in 240 participants involving 120 verified T2DM cases and 120 non-diabetics as control. Age, gender and anthropometric data were collected from each participant. Logistic regression models were used with areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AROC) curve to compare the variables predictive statistics. The AROC of WHR to identify T2DM patients was 0.678 (P<0.05), with sensitivity 62.5% of and specificity of 60.8%. The AROC for average arm circumference (AAC) model is 0.649 with sensitivity of 55.8% followed by BMI model (AROC 0.635) and WC model (AROC 0.600) (P<0.05). Hip circumference (HC) (AROC 0.508) and NC (AROC 0.492) models were not significant predictors of T2DM. Subjects of ≥60 years, AAC value ≥32.6 cm, BMI value ≥ 30 kg/m2, and WHR value ≥ 0.93 were at significantly (P<0.05) higher odds of developing T2DM than lower subjects with lower values. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) in the mean HC and NC values between the diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. The non-diabetic subjects have significantly (P>0.05) higher mean height value than the diabetic subjects. Measures of generalized and central obesity were significantly associated with increased risk of developing T2DM. This study revealed that WHR can predict type 2 diabetes mellitus risk more accurately than other anthropometric measures and can thus be helpful in predicting patients with future occurrence of diabetes and providing necessary interventions