Vietnamese may develop type 2 diabetes with smaller increases in body mass index and waist circumference than Taiwanese

Background: Obesity is associated with development of diabetes. However, it seems that the level of obesity in association with diabetes may differ from country to country. Aim: To compare BMI and waist circumference in diabetic patients between Vietnamese and Taiwanese. Methods: Subjects were found to be diabetes mellitus by the health examination and had not treatment before. They were 163 Vietnamese and 298 Taiwanese. Body weight, height and waist circumference were measured. Results: Compared with Taiwanese, the Vietnamese diabetes had significantly lower in BMI (23.1±4.1 vs. 25.9 ± 3.4 kg/m2, p< 0.001), and waist circumference (82.2 ± 10.2 vs. 86.8± 9.4 cm, p< 0.001; respectively). Conclusion: Vietnamese people may develop diabetes at smaller increase of BMI and waist circumference than the increase in these indices to induce diabetes in Taiwanese, thus indicating that the factors of Type 2 DM in Vietnam such as BMI, genetic, dietary and life-style which have inter-correlate complexly. It requires further in-vestigations.