What if body fat percentage association with FINDRISC score leads to a better prediction of type 2 diabetes mellitus?

Vol. 60 No. 1, 2019

ROMANIAN JOURNAL of MORPHOLOGY and EMBRYOLOGY

Iulia-Elena Jurca-Simina, Iulius Juganaru, Mircea-Stefan Iurciuc, Stela Iurciuc, Emil Ungureanu, Andreea Iulia Dobrescu, Adela Chirita-Emandi, Oana Raluca Voinescu, Ioana-Cristina Olariu, Maria Puiu, Doina Georgescu, Veronica-Madalina Boruga

Introduction: Nowadays, the efforts regarding the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are focused on decreasing overweight, obesity and visceral fat accumulation or percent body fat (PBF) risk factors. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for measuring PBF could be a reliable method to improve risk assessment of T2DM. Participants, Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study performed in 2016 enrolled 341 healthy medical students from western Romania, aged 18 to 44 years old, 143 females and 198 males. Anthropometric measurements, PBF (BIA machine InBody720) determination, along with the Finnish Diabetes Risk (FINDRISC) assessment form, were performed for each participant. Results: 27.6% of the entire cohort was determined as being overweighed and 12% obese. FINDRISC score showed that 5% from the entire group have a moderate to very high risk to develop T2DM in the following 10 years. FINDRISC score was correlated with waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and PBF showing strong and positive correlations to both parameters (WHR: 0.477, p<0.001; PBF: 0.561, p<0.001). Discussions: Our results indicate a stronger correlation between FINDRISC score with PBF compared to FINDRISC and WHR for the entire cohort, and for both males and females. Conclusions: We recommend PBF measured by BIA (respecting quality control procedures) as a potential parameter to be considered into the risk model predictions for T2DM, as it is an accessible and affordable tool to use in the primary level of healthcare.

Corresponding author: Mircea-Stefan Iurciuc, MD, PhD; e-mail: mirceaiurciuc@gmail.com; Emil Ungureanu, MD, PhD; e-mail: mdemil@gmail.com

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