Associations between weight change and biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk in South Asians: secondary analyses of the PODOSA Trial

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The association of weight changes with cardiometabolic biomarkers in South Asians has been sparsely studied. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We measured cardiometabolic biomarkers at baseline and after 3 years in the Prevention of Diabetes and Obesity in South Asians (PODOSA) Trial. We investigated the effect of a lifestyle intervention on biomarkers in the randomised groups. In addition, treating the population as a single cohort, we estimated the association between change in weight and change in biomarkers. RESULTS: Complete data were available at baseline and 3 years in 151 participants. At 3 years there was an adjusted mean reduction of 1·44kg (95% CI 0.18 to 2.71) in weight and 1.59cm (95% CI 0.08 to 3.09) in waist circumference in the intervention, compared with control, arm. There was no clear evidence of difference between intervention and control arms in change of mean value of any biomarker. As a single cohort, every 1kg weight reduction during follow-up was associated with a reduction in triglycerides (−1.3%, p=0.048), ALT (−2.5%, p=0.032), GGT (−2.2%, p=0.040), leptin (−6.5%, p<0.0001), insulin (−3.7% p<0.001), fasting glucose (−0.8%, p<0.001), 2-hour glucose (−2.3%, p<0.001) and HOMA-IR (−4.5%, p<0.001).There was no evidence of associations with other lipid measures, t-PA, markers of inflammation, or blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that modest weight decrease in SAs is associated with improvements in markers of total and ectopic fat as well as insulin resistance and glycaemia in South Asians at risk of diabetes. Future trials with more intensive weight change are needed to extend these findings.