Waist Size, Not BMI, Predicts Risk of Diabetes

By Nancy Walsh, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: October 08, 2010 Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner American adults have larger waists than their British counterparts, which can account for their significantly greater prevalence of type 2 diabetes, a study suggested. The prevalence of diabetes is nearly twice as high among Americans as among the British, and this difference can't be fully explained by differences in risk factors such as age and smoking or body mass index (BMI), according to James Banks, PhD, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London, and colleagues. Writing online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the researchers reported that significant differences were found when mean waist circumferences were compared for Americans and the English:/.../