Which one: Education, central and general obesity, age, glycemia, and diabetes has the strongest effect on fasting blood sugar and lipid profile in healthy overweight/obese Iranian women?

The aim of this study is to access which modifiable, non-modifiable and socioeconomic factors are a good predictor for lipid profiles and fasting blood sugar (FBS) in healthy over weight and obese women. This clinical cross-sectional study is done with 811 overweight and obese women in the age group of 20-60 years of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In this study, the dependent variables were FBS, lipids profile and the independent variables were educational level, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), age, fasting glycemia and diabetes. Significant factors associated with FBS were age, BMI, education and WHR, but the effect of age was stronger than others. For TC, only glycemia had significant effect (P=0.004, OR 1.9) vs. other independent variables odds ratios. Having diabetes, BMI ≥30 mg/dl and education ≤12 years were significant factors associated with TG but the effect of diabetes was stronger than others (OR: 2.7, 2.2, 1.9 for Diabetes, BMI, and education respectively). The effect of age was stronger than other independent factors with LDL-C. Logistic regression model had not shown any significant association between independent variables with HDL-C. based on obtained results, for healthy overweight and obese women, age, glycemia, and having diabetes can be considered for predicting FBS and LDL-C, TC, and TG respectively.