Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a growing global health problem. We aimed to evaluate the ability of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-height ratio (WHtR) to detect type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among adults in Northern Sudan. A multi-stage sampling survey was conducted in Northern Sudan. The information was obtained on the sociodemographic and anthropometric indices (BMI, WC, and WHtR). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and a multivariate binary analysis were performed. Among the 396 adults included in the study, 201 (50.8%) were male, and 195 (49.2%) were female. The median (interquartile, IQR) for age, BMI, WC, and WHtR were 45.0 (33.3‒55.8) years, 26.5(22.5‒30.5) kg/m2, 84.0(73.8‒95.0) cm, and 0.46 (0.40‒0.53), respectively. The median values of BMI, WHtR, and WC were higher in females than in males. Of the total, 107 (27.0%) adults had T2DM. The median (IQR) of BMI, WC, and WHtR were significantly higher in adults with T2DM than in those without T2DM. BMI (AUC = 0.55, cutoff = 25.17 kg/m2, sensitivity = 0.68, specificity = 0.48, PPV = 32.6, NPV = 80.2), WHtR (AUC = 0.62, cutoff = 0.44, sensitivity = 0.74, specificity = 0.40, PPV = 34.4, NPV = 84.8), and WC (AUC = 0.63, cutoff = 79.28 cm, sensitivity = 0.78, specificity = 0.47, PPV = 35.3, NPV = 85.1), had poor predictability in detecting T2DM in adults. In multivariate analysis, being female (adjusted odds ratio AOR 1.66, 95.0% CI 1.01‒2.73), increased age (AOR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03‒1.06), and increased WC (AOR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01‒1.04) were associated with T2DM. BMI and WHtR were not associated with T2DM. BMI, WC, and WHtR showed poor predictive value for detecting T2DM among adult Sudanese.
Osman et al. (Thu,) studied this question.