Normal-weight but metabolically unhealthy women have twofold greater incidence of diabetes
FRIDAY, Feb. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) — There is a significant increased risk for diabetes mellitus (DM) in postmenopausal women who are metabolically unhealthy, according to a study published online Feb. 24 in Menopause.
Amber R. Cordola Hsu, Ph.D., from the Claremont Colleges in California, and colleagues used data from the Women’s Health Initiative to identify 17,043 postmenopausal participants who were free of cardiovascular disease and DM at baseline. The relationship between metabolic weight categories (metabolically healthy normal weight [MHNW], metabolically unhealthy normal weight [MUHNW], metabolically healthy overweight/obese [MHO], and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese [MUHO]) and incident DM was assessed during a mean of 15.6 years.
The researchers found that 13.3 percent of participants developed DM. There was an increased risk for incident DM among MUHNW (hazard ratio, 2.24), MHO (hazard ratio, 1.68), and MUHO (hazard ratio, 4.51) versus MHNW.
“Apart from the need for improved DM education models to provide current education to patients, greater patient education regarding the importance of weight loss and control of cardiometabolic risk factors for prevention of diabetes can be recommended,” the authors write.
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Copyright © 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
