Correlation between anthropometric indices, blood fat composition and glycated hemoglobin levels in Korean nondiabetic adults

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic adult disease whose prevalence increases with age, with a high prevalence of 30% in people in their 70s, leading to fatal complications. Risk factors for diabetes include weight, waist circumference, BMI, weight-corrected waist circumference index (WWI), and cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which are blood fat levels. In this study, using data from the South Korean 8th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the average values of these risk factors by age group were investigated for men and women among 4,497 adults over 30 years of age without diabetes. In addition, the Pearson correlation coefficient and significance probability between the glycated hemoglobin level and each risk factor were calculated in all subjects. The investigation of average weight and waist circumference by age group showed that men's weight decreased with age and waist circumference remained constant, while women's weight decreased and waist circumference increased with age. Cholesterol levels increased and then decreased with age, showing the highest values in men in their 40s and women in their 50s. In the 40s, triglyceride levels were highest in men, and the difference between men and women was greatest. However, in men, it decreased with age, and vice versa in women, so it showed almost no difference at 70 and older. The correlation between the risk factors of the anthropometric indices and the glycated hemoglobin level was highest for WWI, with a correlation coefficient of 0.333. The correlation was in the following order from high: WWI > waist circumference > BMI > weight. The blood triglyceride level had a correlation coefficient of 0.121 with the glycated hemoglobin level, which was twice as large as the correlation coefficient with cholesterol of 0.600. All risk factors strongly correlated with the glycated hemoglobin level, with a significance probability below 10-6.