Shorter height, smaller hips linked to higher T2D risk

Most adiposity markers are positively associated with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D), but waist to height ratio (WHtR) shows the most robust association and is a better predictor of T2D risk.

“Being shorter and having smaller hips were associated with a higher risk of T2D,” the authors said.

A total of 161,127 White European participants from the UK Biobank free of diabetes at baseline were included in this prospective cohort study. Anthropometric measures were as follows: height, weight, body mass index (BMI), A Body Shape Index, waist circumference, WHtR, waist to hip ratio, hip circumference, visceral adiposity index, hip index, and anthropometric risk index.

The authors used Cox proportional hazard models to examine the associations. They also compared the predictive performance of BMI and other anthropometric measures using the differences in C-index.

Over a median follow-up of 10.0 years, 6,315 participants developed T2D. All markers positively correlated with incident T2D, except for height and hip index. The strongest associations were observed for WHtR (hazard ratio [HR] per 1-standard deviation increment in women, 2.27, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 2.19‒2.35; HR in men, 1.96, 95 percent CI, 1.90‒2.01).

Notably, WHtR and anthropometric risk index showed a better predictive performance for T2D risk than BMI.

“Although most adiposity markers were associated with T2D, the magnitude of the associations differed,” the authors said. “WHtR had the strongest associations and predictive ability for T2D and thus could be a more suitable marker for clinical use.”