Background: Increased body fatness along with other conditions typical of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) such as insulin resistance have become more prevalent in Qatar due to rapid transitions in the Qatari's population lifestyle in the last few decades. The government of Qatar is seeking to improve the public's health; however, epidemiological studies on Qataris are limited. Aims: This research aims to 1) describe the features of the MetS and its determinants among a sample of Qataris, 2) explore the difference between four obesity subgroups regarding selected factors of metabolic health and 3) investigate the association of total and central body fatness indices with C-peptide and glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) as insulin sensitivity biomarkers and with fibrinogen as a biomarker of inflammation. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of 879 Qatari men and women from the Qatar Biobank pilot phase. The MetS prevalence was estimated using the National Cholesterol Education Programme Adult Panel III (NCEP ATPIII), International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the harmonised criteria. Metabolic health status for the four obesity subgroups (metabolically-healthy normal weight, metabolically-abnormal normal weight, metabolically-healthy obese and metabolically-abnormal obese) was identified using the harmonised guidelines. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to test the relation of the obesity indices (including body mass index, body fat percentage, waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio) to C-peptide, HbA1c and fibrinogen. Results: The prevalence of the MetS was 18.4% (NCEP ATPIII), 27.0% (IDF), and 28.9% (harmonised definition). Central obesity was the most prevalent determinant of the MetS. There were significant differences in multiple factors of metabolic health for each of the four obesity subgroups. There were strong positive associations between the examined obesity indices and C-peptide, HbA1c and fibrinogen. WC had the strongest positive association with C-peptide, HbA1c and fibrinogen compared to the other examined body fatness indices. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that future interventions should target reducing WC in Qataris. The four obesity subgroups differed significantly regarding multiple factors of metabolic health; this implies that they might need to be treated differently. More epidemiological studies are needed to aid the Qatari government in their decision making to improve the public's health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:689125 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Nasralla, Eman Abdulwahhab |
| Contributors | Riboli, Elio ; Cross, Amanda |
| Publisher | Imperial College London |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/34919 |
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