Factors Associated with Normal-Weight Abdominal Obesity Phenotype in a Representative Sample of the Peruvian Population: A 4-Year Pooled Cross-Sectional Study

Diagnostic Performance of the Measurement of Skinfold Thickness for Abdominal and Overall Obesity in the Peruvian Population: A 5-Year Cohort Analysis

The escalating prevalence of overall and abdominal obesity, particularly affecting Latin America, underscores the urgent need for accessible and cost-effective predictive methods to address the growing disease burden. This study assessed skinfold thicknesses' predictive capacity for overall and abdominal obesity in Peruvian adults aged 30 or older over 5 years. Data from the PERU MIGRANT 5-year cohort study were analyzed, defining obesity using BMI and waist circumference. Receiver operating characteristic curves and area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Adults aged ≥ 30 (n = 988) completed the study at baseline, with 47% male. A total of 682 participants were included for overall and abdominal obesity analysis. The 5-year prevalence values for overall and abdominal obesity were 26.7% and 26.6%, respectively. Subscapular skinfold (SS) best predicted overall obesity in men (AUC = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.75-0.88) and women (AUC = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67-0.88). Regarding abdominal obesity, SS exhibited the highest AUC in men (AUC = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.77-0.89), while SS and the sum of trunk skinfolds showed the highest AUC in women. In secondary analysis excluding participants with type-2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) at baseline, SS significantly predicted DM2 development in men (AUC = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.58-0.83) and bicipital skinfold (BS) did in women (AUC = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.62-0.84). The findings highlight SS significance as an indicator of overall and abdominal obesity in both sexes among Peruvian adults. Additionally, SS, and BS offer robust predictive indicators for DM2.

Prevalence of hypertension in adults living at altitude in Latin America and the Caribbean: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence of hypertension in populations living at altitude in Latin America and the Caribbean.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic search from January 1, 2000 to January 10, 2023 in Web of Science (WoS)/Core Collection, WoS/Medline, WoS/Scielo, Scopus, PubMed and Embase databases. We included studies that assessed the prevalence of hypertension in altitude populations (>1500 m.a.s.l.) and these were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model. To assess the sources of heterogeneity, we performed subgroup and meta-regression analyses.

RESULTS

Thirty cross-sectional studies (117 406 participants) met the inclusion criteria. Studies used different cut-off points. The prevalence of hypertension in the studies that considered the cut-off point of ≥ 140/90 mmHg in the general population was 19.1%, ≥ 130/85 mmHg was 13.1%, and ≥ 130/80 mmHg was 43.4%. There was a tendency for the prevalence of hypertension to be higher in men. In meta-regression analyses, no association was found between altitude, mean age, year of publication, risk of bias and prevalence of hypertension.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of hypertension in the altitude population of Latin America and the Caribbean is lower than that reported in populations living at sea level and lower than other altitude populations such as Tibetans.

PROSPERO

CRD42021275229.