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Excesso de peso e gordura abdominal para a síndrome metabólica em nipo-brasileiros Weight excess and abdominal fat in the metabolic syndrome among Japanese-Brazilians

2002; UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO; Volume: 36; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1518-8787

Daniel D G Lerario, Suely G.A. Gimeno, Laércio Joel Franco, Magid Iunes, Sandra Roberta G. Ferreira,

Obesity and Health Practices

Abstract ObjectiveObesity, especially abdominal, has been associated with cardiovascular riskfactors such as dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM). Theimportance of these risk factors among Japanese-Brazilians was previously shown,although obesity is not a typical characteristic of Japanese migrants. In thisstudy the prevalence of weight excess and central adiposity (CA) among Japanese-Brazilians and their association with metabolic disorders was evaluated.MethodsA sample of 530 1st and 2nd generation Japanese-Brazilians (aged 40–79 years)went through anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, lipid profile andoral glucose tolerance tests. The prevalence rate (point and confidence interval) ofoverweight was calculated using a cut-off value of >26.4 kg/m 2 . CA diagnosis wasbased on waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WHR): ≥ 0.85 and 0.95 in women andmen, respectively.ResultsThe prevalence of weight excess was 22.4% (CI 95% 20.6–28.1), and CA was 67.0%(95% CI 63.1–70.9). In addition to higher prevalence of DM, hypertension anddyslipidemia, stratifying by BMI and WHR, people with weight excess and CA revealeda poorer metabolic profile: blood pressure levels were significantly higher amongthose with weight excess with or without CA; CA individuals had higher glucose,triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol, and lower HDL than those without weightexcess or CA; fasting insulinemia was significantly higher among subjects with weightexcess (with or without CA) than among those without weight excess or CA.ConclusionComparing subgroups with and without CA supports the hypothesis that abdominalfat accumulation represents a risk factor for insulin resistance-related diseases, evenamong Japanese descendants. The increased prevalence of metabolic syndromeamong Japanese migrants could be attributed to visceral fat deposition, which hasbeen implicated in the genesis of insulin resistance.