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Metabolically healthy obesity: different prevalences using different criteria

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 64, pages 1043–1051 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

To estimate the prevalence of metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) according to different definitions.

Methods:

Population-based sample of 2803 women and 2557 men participated in the study. Metabolic abnormalities were defined using six sets of criteria, which included different combinations of the following: waist; blood pressure; total, high-density lipoprotein or low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; triglycerides; fasting glucose; homeostasis model assessment; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; personal history of cardiovascular, respiratory or metabolic diseases. For each set, prevalence of MHO was assessed for body mass index (BMI); waist or percent body fat.

Results:

Among obese (BMI ⩾30 kg/m2) participants, prevalence of MHO ranged between 3.3 and 32.1% in men and between 11.4 and 43.3% in women according to the criteria used. Using abdominal obesity, prevalence of MHO ranged between 5.7 and 36.7% (men) and 12.2 and 57.5% (women). Using percent body fat led to a prevalence of MHO ranging between 6.4 and 43.1% (men) and 12.0 and 55.5% (women). MHO participants had a lower odd of presenting a family history of type 2 diabetes. After multivariate adjustment, the odds of presenting with MHO decreased with increasing age, whereas no relationship was found with gender, alcohol consumption or tobacco smoking using most sets of criteria. Physical activity was positively related, whereas increased waist was negatively related with BMI-defined MHO.

Conclusion:

MHO prevalence varies considerably according to the criteria used, underscoring the need for a standard definition of this metabolic entity. Physical activity increases the likelihood of presenting with MHO, and MHO is associated with a lower prevalence of family history of type 2 diabetes.

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Acknowledgements

The CoLaus study was supported by research grants from GlaxoSmithKline, the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of Lausanne, Switzerland and the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant no. 33CSCO-122661). PV and GW received an unrestricted grant for GSK to build the CoLaus sudy. We thank Dr Vincent Mooser (Medical Genetics, GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and the EJCN reviewers for helpful comments. We also express their gratitude to the participants in the Lausanne CoLaus study and to the investigators who have contributed to the recruitment, in particular Yolande Barreau, Anne-Lise Bastian, Binasa Ramic, Martine Moranville, Martine Baumer, Marcy Sagette, Jeanne Ecoffey and Sylvie Mermoud for data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Portuguese Institute of Oncology Francisco Gentil, Lisbon, Portugal

    S Velho

  2. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), CHUV and Faculty of biology and medicine, Lausanne, Switzerland

    F Paccaud & P Marques-Vidal

  3. Department of Medicine, Internal Medicine, CHUV and Faculty of biology and medicine, Lausanne, Switzerland

    G Waeber & P Vollenweider

  4. Cardiomet, CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland

    P Marques-Vidal

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Correspondence to P Marques-Vidal.

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Velho, S., Paccaud, F., Waeber, G. et al. Metabolically healthy obesity: different prevalences using different criteria. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 1043–1051 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.114

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