Chinese Adults More Susceptible to Obesity-Related Health Risks

TUESDAY, Feb. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Chinese adults seem to be more susceptible to obesity-related health risks, according to a study published online Feb. 11 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Ruizhi Zheng, Ph.D., from Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, and colleagues assessed and compared the effects of obesity metrics (body mass index [BMI] and waist circumference [WC]) on cardiometabolic risk factors among different races/ethnicities. Data were included from a nationally representative sample of Mainland Chinese adults obtained in 2010 (98,658 participants) and from the National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey 2005 to 2016 (51,925 participants).

The researchers found that in Mainland Chinese adults, WC was significantly associated with all cardiometabolic risk factors; WC was associated with most factors in non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black adults, but not in other races/ethnicities. Obesity metrics had a greater impact on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and triglycerides in Chinese adults than in other racial/ethnic groups.

“Our study demonstrated that Chinese adults were more susceptible to the effects of overall obesity and abdominal fat accumulation on blood pressure and triglycerides than those in other racial and ethnic populations,” a coauthor said in a statement. “These racial and ethnic differences in susceptibility of obesity-related health problems should be noticed while screening for high-risk individuals using BMI and waist circumference.”

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