Diagnostic performance of central and generalized adiposity in detecting risk of diabetes mellitus in adolescents

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing in all age groups, including the adolescent globally. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association of adiposity with the risk of T2DM in adolescents aged 11 to 19 years. METHODS: This study comprised 403 adolescent boys (202) and girls (201). Participants were assessed in three indices of body fat and fasting blood glucose (FBG). Multivariate regression models assessing the associations of the independent variables with risk of T2DM were conducted. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was used to determine the predictive capacities of the body fat proxies to detect risk of T2DM. RESULTS: The prevalence of glucose abnormalities was 13.6% and 1.8% for pre-diabetes and diabetes respectively. Among the body fat indices in boys, WHtR was the only independent predictor (β =0.599, p<0.001) of T2DM risk. Both the WHtR and WC had significant (p<0.001) Areas under curve (AUC), with WHtR as the best body fat indicator for identifying risk of T2DM in boys. The independent variables had no discriminatory capacities to detect T2DM risk in girls. CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated that central fat is more important than total fat in detecting risk of T2DM in Nigerian adolescent boys.