Two Distinct Groups Are Shown to Be at Risk of Diabetes by Means of a Cluster Analysis of Four Variables.

Recent attempts to classify adult-onset diabetes using only six diabetes-related variables (GAD antibody, age at diagnosis, BMI, HbA1c, and homeostatic model assessment 2 estimates of b-cell function and insulin resistance (HOMA2-B and HOMA2-IR)) showed that diabetes can be classified into five clusters, of which four correspond to type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Here, we classified nondiabetic individuals to identify risk clusters for incident T2DM to facilitate the refinement of prevention strategies. Of the 1167 participants in the population-based Iwaki Health Promotion Project in 2014 (baseline), 868 nondiabetic individuals who attended at least once during 2015-2019 were included in a prospective study. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using four variables (BMI, HbA1c, and HOMA2 indices). Of the four clusters identified, cluster 1 (n = 103), labeled as "obese insulin resistant with sufficient compensatory insulin secretion", and cluster 2 (n = 136), labeled as "low insulin secretion", were found to be at risk of diabetes during the 5-year follow-up period: the multiple factor-adjusted HRs for clusters 1 and 2 were 14.7 and 53.1, respectively. Further, individuals in clusters 1and 2 could be accurately identified: the area under the ROC curves for clusters 1and 2 were 0.997 and 0.983, respectively. The risk of diabetes could be better assessed on the basis of the cluster that an individual belongs to.

Associations between physical physique/fitness in children and bone development during puberty: a 4-year longitudinal study.

Bone growth is most remarkable during puberty. This study aimed to clarify the effects of physique and physical strength on bone mineral density and bone metabolism markers during puberty to help improve bone growth during puberty and prevent future osteoporosis. There were 277 pubertal participants (125 boys and 152 girls) in this survey from 2009 to 2015, all aged 10/11 and 14/15 years. The measures included physical fitness/physique indices (such as muscle ratio etc.), grip strength, bone density (osteo sono-assessment index, OSI), and bone metabolism markers (bone-type alkaline phosphatase and type I collagen cross-linked N-telopeptide). At 10/11-years-old for girls, a positive correlation was found between body size/grip strength and OSI. At 14/15-year-old for boys, all body size factors/grip strength were positively correlated with OSI. The change in body muscle ratio was positively correlated with change in OSI for both sexes. The height, body muscle ratio and grip strength at 10/11-year-old were significantly associated with OSI (positively) and bone metabolism markers (negatively) at 14/15-year-old for both sexes. Adequate physique building after 10/11 years for boys and before 10/11 years for girls may be effective in increasing peak bone mass.

Relationships between body composition and pulmonary function in a community-dwelling population in Japan.

Pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are major chronic diseases that result in decreased pulmonary function. Relationships between body composition and pulmonary function have been reported. However, few epidemiological studies have used the visceral fat area (VFA) to measure body composition. This study aimed to examine the relationship between body composition and pulmonary function. A cross-sectional study was conducted between 2015 and 2016, using data obtained from 1,287 residents aged between 19 and 91 years living in the Iwaki area of Hirosaki City, a rural region in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Pulmonary function was evaluated using the forced vital capacity (FVC) as a percentage of the predicted value (predicted FVC%) and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) to FVC. The measurements for evaluating body composition included the body fat percentage (BFP) of the whole body and trunk, skeletal muscle index (SMI), body mass index (BMI), VFA, waist circumference (WC) at the navel level, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). To adjust for potential confounders, Spearman's partial correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the measurements of body composition and pulmonary function. There were significant correlations between the predicted FVC% and the following parameters: BFP (whole body and trunk) in younger males; SMI in older males; WC, VFA, BMI, and SMI in younger females; and BFP (whole body and trunk) and VFA in older females. Contrastingly, WC and VFA in younger males and WC in younger females were correlated with the FEV1/FVC ratio. VFA was correlated with the FEV1/FVC ratio in younger males and predicted FVC% in older females. These findings suggest that visceral fat accumulation may increase the development of obstructive pulmonary disease in young males and accelerate the decline of pulmonary function (predicted FVC%) in older females.