Body composition displays expected and unexpected contributions to blood pressure and glycemia in young South African women
Authors' conclusion
In this young adult population with high rates of overweight/obesity and pre-diabetes/diabetes, DEXA-derived adiposity exhibits modest associations with glycemia, underscoring the atypical nature of diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa.
Study context
- Population
- Young women (median age 22.4 years) in Soweto, South Africa, undergoing assessment for a clinical trial; whole-body DXA yielding 12 body composition measures
- Participants
- 7,735 women
- Outcome
- Associations of DXA body composition measures with HbA1c, systolic BP and diastolic BP
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Adiposity measures (fat mass, visceral adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue, android fat) significantly but very modestly associated with HbA1c; additional variance in HbA1c explained
0.14% to 0.37%
Lean mass/soft tissue indices (lean mass index, lean mass, fat-free soft tissue mass): variance in systolic blood pressure (BP) explained
5.8% to 6.3%
Adiposity measures (android fat, subcutaneous adipose tissue, fat mass): variance in diastolic BP explained
4.6% to 4.8%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Prevalence of cardiometabolic conditions
- Overweight/obesity
- 49.6%
- Pre-diabetes/diabetes
- 10.9%
- Hypertension
- 11.9%
Original publication
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