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Hypertension Research
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Body Fat Distribution and the Risk of Hypertension and Diabetes among Japanese Men and Women
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  • Original Article
  • Published: 01 May 2008

Body Fat Distribution and the Risk of Hypertension and Diabetes among Japanese Men and Women

  • Choy-Lye Chei1,
  • Hiroyasu Iso2,
  • Kazumasa Yamagishi1,
  • Takeshi Tanigawa1,3,
  • Renzhe Cui1,4,
  • Hironori Imano5,
  • Masahiko Kiyama5,
  • Akihiko Kitamura5,
  • Shinichi Sato5 &
  • …
  • Takashi Shimamoto5 

Hypertension Research volume 31, pages 851–857 (2008)Cite this article

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Abstract

To identify anthropometrical indices of body fat distribution for predicting the risk of hypertension and diabetes, a population-based prospective study was designed. Subjects in two communities (n=2,422 and 3,195), who were free of hypertension and diabetes, respectively, were followed-up. The area and gender-specific risk of hypertension and diabetes were compared among tertiles of body mass index (BMI) and body fat distribution, including waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and subscapular skinfold-thickness (SSF). During the 10-year follow-up for hypertension and diabetes, the incident cases of hypertension were 72 for Yao men, 125 for Kyowa men, 160 for Yao women and 193 for Kyowa women and those of diabetes were 27, 64, 37 and 77, respectively. One SD differences in BMI and WC were associated with 1.2 to1.6-fold higher risk of hypertension, and that of SSF was associated with 1.4 to 1.6-fold higher risk of diabetes for both men and women in Yao and for women, but not men, in Kyowa. One SD differences of BMI, WC and WHtR were also associated with 1.4 to 2.0-fold higher risk of diabetes for Yao and Kyowa women. In conclusion, the significant predictors for hypertension were BMI and WC and those for diabetes were BMI and SSF in both genders in both communities, except for men in Kyowa. WC and WHtR were also predictors for diabetes in women but not in men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, and Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Choy-Lye Chei, Kazumasa Yamagishi, Takeshi Tanigawa & Renzhe Cui

  2. Department of Social and Environmental Medicine, Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Japan

    Hiroyasu Iso

  3. Department of Public Health, Social Medicine and Medical Informatics, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon, Japan

    Takeshi Tanigawa

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Medical College of Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Renzhe Cui

  5. Osaka Medical Center for Health Science and Promotion, Osaka, Japan

    Hironori Imano, Masahiko Kiyama, Akihiko Kitamura, Shinichi Sato & Takashi Shimamoto

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  1. Choy-Lye Chei
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Correspondence to Hiroyasu Iso.

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Chei, CL., Iso, H., Yamagishi, K. et al. Body Fat Distribution and the Risk of Hypertension and Diabetes among Japanese Men and Women. Hypertens Res 31, 851–857 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1291/hypres.31.851

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  • Received: 26 March 2007

  • Accepted: 03 December 2007

  • Issue date: 01 May 2008

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1291/hypres.31.851

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Keywords

  • hypertension
  • diabetes
  • body mass index
  • waist circumference
  • waist-to-height ratio

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Hypertension Research (Hypertens Res)

ISSN 1348-4214 (online)

ISSN 0916-9636 (print)

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