Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Mar 2024)

Metabolically Unhealthy Normal Weight: Prevalence and Associated Factors in an Adult Population from Northwest Colombia

  • López-Herrera JA,
  • Castillo AN,
  • Ordoñez-Betancourth JE,
  • Martínez Quiroz WDJ,
  • Higuita-Gutiérrez LF,
  • Suarez-Ortegon MF

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 1337 – 1357

Abstract

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Julián Andrés López-Herrera,1 Adriana Nathaly Castillo,2 Jenny Elizabeth Ordoñez-Betancourth,3 Wilson de Jesús Martínez Quiroz,4 Luis Felipe Higuita-Gutiérrez,5,6 Milton F Suarez-Ortegon7 1Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Seccional Cali, Cali, Colombia; 2Departamento de nutrición y dietética, Institución Universitaria Escuela Nacional del Deporte, Cali, Colombia; 3Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Icesi, Cali, Colombia; 4Dirección de gestión clínica y promoción y prevención, Metrosalud, Medellín, Colombia; 5School of Medicine, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia; 6School of Microbiology, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia; 7Departamento de Alimentación y Nutrición, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Seccional Cali, Cali, ColombiaCorrespondence: Milton F Suarez-Ortegon; Luis Felipe Higuita-Gutiérrez, Email [email protected]; [email protected] and Aim: Individuals with a normal weight may have metabolic alterations at risk for chronic non-communicable diseases. The prevalence of this condition and associated factors have not been reported in Latin American populations. We aimed to estimate the presence and associated factors of Metabolically Unhealthy Normal Weight (MUNW) in adults from a public program for the control and prevention of chronic diseases in Medellín, Colombia.Methods: Cross-sectional study. Overweight and normal weight were characterized according to the absence or presence of one or more components of the metabolic syndrome, obtaining four phenotypes: Metabolically Healthy Normal Weight (MHNW), MUNW (phenotype of interest), Metabolically Healthy Overweight (MHO), and Metabolically Unhealthy Overweight (MUO). The association of these phenotypes with sociodemographic variables of lifestyles and increased waist circumference was conducted by using logistic regression.Results: In 37,558 individuals (72.7% women), the prevalence of MUNW was 23.3%. Among the additional phenotypes, MUO was found to be more prevalent (71.6%), while MHNW and MHO were very slightly common, 2% and 3.1%, respectively. In a multiple model, the factors associated with MUNW were age over 60 years (trend [OR 1.56 95% CI 0.97– 2.52] p-value = 0.066), living in a rural area ([OR 1.58 95% CI 1.09– 2.29] p-value = 0.015), and increased waist circumference ([OR 1.68 95% CI 1.45– 1.95] p-value < 0.001). Male gender was inversely associated with all phenotypes (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Almost a quarter of the analyzed population presented MUNW. People living in a rural area and over 60 years old were more likely to present MUNW. Men were less likely to present the weight phenotypes studied, although they could have been underrepresented.Keywords: normal weight, metabolism, risk factor, body mass index, metabolic profile, metabolic syndrome

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