Visceral fat and cardiorespiratory fitness with prevalence of pre-diabetes/diabetes mellitus among middle-aged and elderly Japanese people: WASEDA'S Health Study

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 20;15(10):e0241018. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241018. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

The relationships between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) measurements not confounded by adiposity and the prevalence of pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are not well known. Thus, we aimed to investigate the associations of visceral fat (VF) and CRF with the prevalence of pre-DM/DM among Japanese adults. The study included 970 individuals (327 women and 643 men) who were 40-87 years old and had complete health examinations, abdominal fat area, and fitness data from WASEDA'S Health Study during 2015-2018. The VF area was measured using magnetic resonance imaging. CRF was measured using a cycle ergometer and was defined as VO2peak divided by fat free mass. The pre-DM/DM was identified based on the questionnaire and fasting blood tests. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for prevalence of pre-DM/DM were calculated. Seventy-three participants had pre-DM and 48 participants had DM. Compared to the low VF group, the high VF group had a higher prevalence of pre-DM/DM (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.18-2.96), although no significant relationship was observed between CRF and pre-DM/DM prevalence (P for trend = 0.239). The sub-group analyses also revealed no significant relationship between CRF and pre-DM/DM prevalence in the low VF group (P for trend = 0.979), although CRF values were inversely related to the prevalence of pre-DM/DM in the high VF group (P for trend = 0.024). Although CRF was not independently related to the prevalence of pre-DM/DM after adjusting for adiposity, higher VF values were related to a higher prevalence of pre-DM/DM. In addition, CRF levels were inversely associated with the prevalence of pre-DM/DM only among high VF individuals.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Abdominal Fat*
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Asian People
  • Cardiorespiratory Fitness*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Diabetes Mellitus / epidemiology*
  • Diabetes Mellitus / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypertension / epidemiology
  • Japan / epidemiology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prediabetic State / epidemiology*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [26242070, I. Muraoka; 18H03198, M. Higuchi; 19H04008, I.Muraoka] and the Supported Program for the Strategic Research Foundation at Private Universities from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [S1511017], part of a collaborative research project with Institute of Stress Science, Public Health Research Foundation. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.