[Anthropometric measures of central abdominal fat and discriminant capacity for metabolic syndrome in a Spanish population]

The effects of telenutrition in overweight and obese adults in a nutritional center in Lima, Peru

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for health services and systems around the world, including Peru.  A viable alternative in the telemedicine field to guarantee patient nutritional care is telenutrition. Telenutrition involves the interactive use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to implement the nutrition care process with patients at a remote location. Information regarding the experience with this methodology and its potential effect on patients’ nutritional goals, does not exist in Peru. The aim of the study was to report the effect of the evaluation type (telenutrition vs. in-person) on weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and relative fat mass (RFM) in overweight and obese adult patients.  Methods: This retrospective study included 100 eligible patients in a single nutritional center, from January 2019 to March 2021. Telenutrition and in-person continuous variables were compared with independent sample t-test or U Mann-Whitney test. Results: There were significant differences in weight, BMI, WC and RFM by the end of follow-up period, in both evaluation modalities. Patients on the telenutrition group had a mean decrease of 6.80 ± 4.87 cm in WC, whereas the mean difference observed for the in-person group was 6.74 ± 4.55 cm. There were no significant differences in the changes of any anthropometric parameters when comparing both systems. Reductions were observed in weight (5.93 ± 3.88 kg vs. 4.92 ± 3.29 kg), BMI (2.23 ± 1.39 kg/ m2 vs. 1.83 ± 1.23 kg/ m2), WC (6.80 ± 4.87 cm vs. 6.74 ± 4.55 cm) and RFM (2.43 ± 1.78 vs. 2.63 ± 1.73) in telenutrition and in-person evaluation, respectively by the end of the follow-up period.  Conclusions: Telenutrition may be regarded as an alternative to in-person evaluation offering anthropometric changes and nutritional goals similar to those reported through the in-person modality, in overweight and obese adult people.

[Lifestyle and physical condition factors associated with gender-specific BMI in Spanish preadolescents]

Introduction

Obesity has become one of the most serious health problems in our society and is associated with a multitude of conditions and complications at puberty. Through this descriptive, cross-sectional study we intended, first, to know the differences by gender in lifestyle and physical condition variables, and second, to know the determinants related to lifestyle and physical condition for a Spanish population aged 10 to 12 years with a medium socioeconomic status. The variables analyzed were BMI, physical condition variables (agility, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory capacity), and health habit variables (quality and frequency of food, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, and sleep duration). We found significant differences between girls and boys in food quality and frequency, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, flexibility, and maximum oxygen consumption variables. In the predictive analysis, the models significantly predicted the BMI for the total sample, the group of boys, and the group of girls. Explanatory variables include quality of breakfast, sedentary lifestyle, VO2 max and agility.

Metabolic syndrome in a sample of Egyptian adolescent girls and its association with apolipoprotein E

AIM

Obesity and its metabolic complications are increasing in childhood and extend to adulthood. The aims of this study were to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a sample of Egyptian adolescent girls and investigate its association with apolipoprotein E.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was used, including 200 Egyptian adolescent girls aged between 12 and 18 years. They were subjected to blood pressure (BP) measurement, anthropometric measurements (weight, height and waist circumference (WC)), laboratory investigations (fasting glucose and lipid profile) and molecular analysis (Apo E).

RESULTS

Overweight/obese girls were suffering significantly, more than normal-weight girls, from hypertension (66.7 vs. 40.8%), diabetes diagnosed by elevated fasting blood glucose (46.7 vs. 31.2%) and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (64 vs. 59.2%). Girls with MS had significantly higher values of body mass index Z-score, WC, BP, cholesterol and triglycerides and significantly lower HDL. Allele E3 (59.1 vs. 55.1%) was more frequent among girls with MS, while allele E4 (41 vs. 36.4) was more frequent among girls without MS. MS was the most prominent among girls with the E3/E4 genotype (35.7%), who had the highest frequency of elevated cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein and blood glucose, while girls with the E2/E4 genotype, which was rare among both groups, had the highest frequency of elevated BP (68.8%) and low HDL (71.4%).

CONCLUSION

MS was significantly more prominent among overweight/obese adolescent girls with the E3/E4 genotype, who had the highest frequency of disturbed lipid profile and blood glucose.

Validation of a non-invasive method for the early detection of metabolic syndrome: a diagnostic accuracy test in a working population

OBJECTIVES

A non-invasive method for the early detection of metabolic syndrome (NIM-MetS) using only waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and blood pressure (BP) has recently been published, with fixed cut-off values for gender and age. The aim of this study was to validate this method in a large sample of Spanish workers.

DESIGN

A diagnostic test accuracy to assess the validity of the method was performed.

SETTING

Occupational health services.

PARTICIPANTS

The studies were conducted in 2012-2016 on a sample of 60 799 workers from the Balearic Islands (Spain).

INTERVENTIONS

The NCEP-ATP III criteria were used as the gold standard. NIM-MetS has been devised using classification trees (the χ² automatic interaction detection method).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Anthropometric and biochemical variables to diagnose MetS. Sensitivity, specificity, validity index and Youden Index were determined to analyse the accuracy of the diagnostic test (NIM-MetS).

RESULTS

With regard to the validation of the method, sensitivity was 54.7%, specificity 94.9% and the Validity Index 91.2%. The cut-off value for WHtR was 0.54, ranging from 0.51 (lower age group) to 0.56 (higher age group). Variables more closely associated with MetS were WHtR (area under the curve (AUC)=0.85; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.86) and systolic BP (AUC=0.79; 95% CI 0.78 to 0.80)). The final cut-off values for the non-invasive method were WHtR ≥0.56 and BP ≥128/80 mm Hg, which includes four levels of MetS risk (very low, low, moderate and high).

CONCLUSIONS

The analysed method has shown a high validity index (higher than 91%) for the early detection of MetS. It is a non-invasive method that is easy to apply and interpret in any healthcare setting. This method provides a scale of MetS risk which allows more accurate detection and more effective intervention.

Predictive Capacity and Cutoff Value of Waist-to-Height Ratio in the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to compare the predictive ability of waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) compared with other anthropometric indicators in the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to propose cutoff values for its early detection in nursing practice. A longitudinal cohort study was conducted on a sample of 630 workers (137 exposed and 493 nonexposed), free of MetS at baseline. WHtR was compared with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and the percentage of body fat (BF%). In the Cox regression, the adjusted values of hazard ratio (HR) were 5.4 (confidence interval [CI] = [3.1, 9.5]) for WHtR and 7.4 (CI = [3.7, 14.9]) for components of MetS. WHtR obtained the largest area under the curve 0.82 (CI = [0.76, 0.88]), and with a cutoff value of 0.54, values were obtained for sensitivity (70%) and specificity (77%). WHtR was the best predictor of incidence of MetS, with a cutoff value of 0.54. Nursing can improve the early detection of MetS by measuring WHtR.