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Item #9
Short
Thighs of 15.1 Inches Linked to Greater Risk of Diabetes
People
with short upper legs are more likely to have glucose intolerance or
diabetes,
That
was reported at the American Heart Association’s 43rd
Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and
Prevention.
Average
thigh length was 15.4 inches for those with insulin resistance and
15.1 for those with diabetes. The average thigh length of men and
women with normal glucose tolerance was 15.8 inches
The
study seems to support the hypothesis that factors influencing growth
in the womb and during childhood may contribute to the development of
impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes, says Keiko Asao, M.D.,
M.P.H., and a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md. Impaired glucose tolerance is also called insulin
resistance. It’s a metabolic disorder in which the body cannot
efficiently turn blood sugar (glucose) into energy.
“Leg
length is not the issue. Some factor that affects leg length may
also affect the development of diabetes,” Asao says. “The
issue is how good a marker is upper leg length? Our findings
suggest a possible relationship between early growth and chronic
disease later in life.”
Researchers
used data on 8,738 black, white and Hispanic men and women from the
Centers for Disease Control’s Third National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES III). The participants were grouped
by race and gender, then compared based on their upper leg length
(ULL) and glucose tolerance: normal glucose tolerance, impaired
glucose tolerance and whether they had diabetes.
“We
found an inverse relationship between upper leg length and having
either diabetes or insulin resistance, meaning shorter ULL was
associated with the two metabolic conditions,” Asao says. The
average ULL for men and women with normal glucose tolerance was 40.2
centimeters (cm), compared to 39.1 cm for those with impaired glucose
tolerance and 38.3 cm for the diabetic group.
After
adjusting for other risk factors, the inverse association remained for
white women and Mexican-American women, but not for blacks or men.
For each centimeter less of ULL, white women were 19 percent more
likely to have diabetes, and Mexican-American women were 13 percent
more likely to have it.
Body
stature is determined by both environmental and genetic factors.
Upper leg length is considered a marker for growth in childhood,
especially before puberty, says Asao.
While
standing height is correlated with upper leg length, it is not linked
to higher risk for diabetes or insulin resistance once other factors
are considered, she says. “We did investigate the ratio of
upper leg length to standing height and found that it is significantly
associated with diabetes and insulin resistance. Upper leg
length, more so than standing height, is a marker of growth specific
to a certain time period of life.”
From
gestation through childhood, bodies grow in a somewhat predictable
fashion in the order of head, trunk and legs. “Newborn babies
have a larger proportion of head to the total length of their body.
Along the path of development and growth, that proportion gets
smaller. Much of the increase in leg length occurs after birth,
during childhood,” she explains.
Two
previous studies in Europe that looked at overall leg length and
stature found an association between shortness and a higher risk of
developing diabetes and insulin resistance. “This is the first
study to examine this question in the U.S. population, and the first
to concentrate on upper leg length (ULL),” she says.
The
researchers adjusted for age, body weight, and family history of
diabetes, education, income, physical activity levels and lung
function.
Co-authors
are WH Linda Kao, Ph.D., M.H.S.; Kesha Baptiste-Roberts, Ph.D.,
M.P.H.; Karen Bandeen-Roche, Ph.D.; Thomas Erlinger, M.D., M.P.H.; and
Frederick Brancati, M.D., M.H.S. American
Heart Association Conference 7th March 2003
================================
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