• Pavel Babusik and Ivan Duris.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Al Rashid Hospital, Kuwait. paba54@hotmail.com
• Med Princ Pract. 2010 Jan 1; 19 (4): 275-80.

ObjectiveThe aims of the study were to compare obesity and its association with risk factors of atherosclerosis in Arabs and South Asians in Kuwait and to define which of the anthropometric parameters is best suited for clinical purposes in general.Subjects And MethodsTwo hundred eighty adults, patients of Al-Rashid Hospital, a private general hospital in Kuwait, were enrolled in the study. Of the 280 patients, 144 were Arab and 136 were South Asian. Basic anthropometric parameters for obesity, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides (TG) were determined. The relationship between anthropometric variables and relevant metabolic variables, as well as a comparison between the different groups, was estimated using standard statistical methods.ResultsArabs were not only more obese [in males, p < 0.001 for body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) and p = 0.001 for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR); in females, p < 0.001 for BMI, p = 0.004 for WC and p = 0.041 for HC], but also developed obesity at a younger age than did South Asians, even though, in South Asians, all anthropometric parameters were positively correlated with age (p = 0.004 for BMI, p = 0.001 for HC and p < 0.001 for WC and WHR). South Asians, however, were more prone to develop adverse effects in both lipid and glucose metabolism than Arabs were. In South Asian males, ethnicity was an independent predictor of triglycerides, according to the multiple linear regression analysis. The WHR appeared to be the most suitable predictor of dyslipidemia and impaired glucose metabolism.ConclusionThe degree of adiposity was different between Arabs and South Asians in Kuwait. Abdominal obesity had a different impact on cardiovascular risk factors in these two ethnic groups in Kuwait.Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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