Introduction
Obesity is a risk factor for abnormal metabolic conditions including hypertension, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes (T2D). The varying prevalence patterns of these metabolic conditions stratified by body mass index (BMI) among individuals lacking awareness of their disease status is poorly explored.
Methods
The study data was from the U.S. CDC 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and included participants aged ≥20 years who had completed examinations for blood pressure and BMI, laboratory tests for blood sugar and cholesterol, and interviews for demographics and other related health issues. Individuals lacking a formal diagnosis from a health professional were referred to as undiagnosed. The weighted prevalence and its 95% confidence interval (CI) for total T2D, hypertension, and high cholesterol and total abnormal metabolic items by BMI within each subgroup were calculated. Similar calculations were also applied to undiagnosed participants. By treating BMI < 25 as the reference, the proportional test was used to identify if significant prevalence existed in two comparisons:overweight vs. BMI < 25 and obese vs. BMI < 25. A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant
Results and Conclusions
The overall weighted prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and overall abnormal metabolic conditions were 16.1%, 60.3%, 57.5% and 76.3%, respectively while the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and abnormal metabolic condition are 8.8%, 11.3%, 16.8% and 30.2%, respectively. A higher prevalence of T2D existed in individuals with BMI25≤BMI≤30 among black adults (18.4% vs. 16.2%). Similar differences were also observed among undiagnosed black participants with BMI < 25 (12.1% vs. 7.5%). The prevalence of total and undiagnosed hypertension increased with BMI although prevalence was lower in the undiagnosed population.
Our study findings reveal that while a higher proportion of obese individuals have chronic conditions, a large proportion of normal weight individuals are similarly burdened. The prevalence estimates of individuals with at least one undiagnosed abnormal metabolic condition indicates a need for expanded screening campaigns. Additionally, the higher prevalence of T2D among normal weight warrants further research to identify potential drivers. Although efforts to manage and control these conditions must continue to have a heightened focus on obese individuals, it must also broaden its scope to target normal weight individuals and develop strategies to decrease the proportion of U.S adults without awareness of their disease status.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-1077 |
| Date | 04 April 2018 |
| Creators | Ozodiegwu, Ifeoma, Lu, Yongke, Wang, Kesheng, Liu, Ying |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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