The Relationship Between Glucose Intolerance and Blood Pressure,Body Mass Index, and Waist to Hip Ratio in Tehran Urban Population: "Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study"

Glucose intolerance, hypertension, and obesity are important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. In this study we aim at assessing the association between WHR, BMI, and blood pressure and glucose tolerance status.
Materials and Methods: Of 15000 urban individuals, 3-69 years old, chosen by cluster random sampling in the cross-sectional phase of a longitudinal study in the east of Tehran, 2886 men and 4013 women, between 30-69 years of age, underwent a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test. Diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were defined using WHO criteria. Blood pressure, weight, height, and hip and waist circumferences were measured according to standard protocols, and BMI and WHR were calculated.
Results: 911 subjects (13.2%) had IGT and 372 (5.4%) had diabetes. Obesity (BMI~30 kglm2) was more common in DM and IGT than healthy individuals (45.1% and 39.1% vs 22.9%, respectively, p0.8 in females and WHR>0.95 in males) was present in 82.7, 75.6 and 53.7% of diabetics, IGT, and normal subjects respectively (p
Conclusion: Hypertension, obesity, and high WHR are more prevalent in individuals with diabetes and IGT than in normal population. Furthermore, truncal obesity is more often associated with glucose intolerance than with gener alized obesity.