Relationship of Conicity Index, Waist Circumference, Body Mass Index and Physical Activity with Lipid Profile in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of death in diabetic patients and lipid disorders are among the main risk factors for these diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of Conicity index (CI), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and physical activity (PA) with lipid levels and to determine the best anthropometric measurement predictor of lipid profiles in patients with type 2 diabetes. A cross sectional study was conducted on 700 patients with type 2 diabetes. Measurements including weight, height, WC, BMI, CI and PA were obtained for each subject and fasting serum triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) were documended. Overall, 97% of men and 95% women had abnormal CI. About 84.5% of participants had BMI over 25 (kg/m2). In addition, 55.3% of men and 88.5% of women had abdominal obesity based on WC. There was significant increases in TG, TC and LDL-C and reduction of HDL-C with increasing CI quartiles. BMI showed significant and positive correlation to LDL-C. The correlation between WC and TG and LDL/HDL were also significant. PA showed a positive and significant correlation to HDL-C and negative correlation to BMI, WC, CI, and LDL / HDL in all subjects. CI, BMI, WC and PA have significant correlations to blood lipid disorders in type 2 diabetic patients and can be used in screening and predicting the risk of lipid disorders in type 2 diabetic patients. None of the measurements however showed a stronger relationship to these disorders in patients with type 2 diabetes.