Leptin predicts the development of diabetes in Mauritian men, but not women: a population-based study.

Objective: To determine if levels of the adipocyte-derived hormone, leptin, predict the development of type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Population-based surveys were undertaken in the multiethnic nation of Mauritius in 1987, 1992 and 1998. Questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, and a 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test were included.

Increasing prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in all ethnic groups in Mauritius.

Aims: To describe the prevalence of different stages of glucose intolerance in a population from Mauritius followed over 11 years.

Methods: Population-based surveys were undertaken in the multiethnic nation of Mauritius in 1987, 1992 and 1998, with 5083, 6616, and 6291 participants, respectively. Questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, and a 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test were included.

High incidence of type 2 diabetes and increasing conversion rates from impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance to diabetes in Mauritius.

Objective: To describe the incidence of different stages of glucose intolerance in a population from Mauritius followed over 11 years. RESEARCH DESIGN, METHODS AND SUBJECTS: Population-based surveys were undertaken in the multi-ethnic nation of Mauritius in 1987, 1992 and 1998 with 5083, 6616 and 6291 participants, respectively. Questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, and a 2-h 75-g oral glucose tolerance test were included.

Impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. What best predicts future diabetes in Mauritius?

Objective: To determine if impaired fasting glucose (IFG; fasting plasma glucose level 6.1-6.9 mmol/l) can predict future type 2 diabetes as accurately as does impaired glucose tolerance (IGT; 2-h plasma glucose level 7.

Diabetic neuropathy in Mauritius: prevalence and risk factors.

The study of diabetic neuropathy has been primarily in Europids, despite the high prevalence of diabetes in other populations. We set out to ascertain the prevalence of diabetic neuropathy and its risk factors in the island nation of Mauritius. Population surveys were carried out in 1987 and 1992 in Mauritius to establish the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes.

Do leptin levels predict weight gain?--A 5-year follow-up study in Mauritius. Mauritius Non-communicable Disease Study Group.

Objective: To investigate whether relative baseline leptin levels predict long-term changes in adiposity and/or its distribution.

Research Methods And Procedures: In a longitudinal study of 2888 nondiabetic Mauritians aged 25 years to 74 years who participated in population-based surveys in 1987 and 1992, changes in body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR), and waist circumference were compared between "hyperleptinemic," "normoleptinemic," and "hypoleptinemic" groups. "Relative leptin levels" were calculated as standardized residuals from the regression of log10 leptin on baseline BMI to provide a leptin measure independent of BMI.

Occupational status and cardiovascular disease risk factors in the rapidly developing, high-risk population of Mauritius.

This study examined the relation between occupation and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in 2,795 individuals between ages 35 and 54 years from the rapidly developing island nation of Mauritius. Participants attended a 1992 population-based survey of noncommunicable disease (89.1 % response rate).

Ethnic differences in ischaemic heart disease and stroke mortality in Mauritius between 1989 and 1994.

Objective: To measure ethnic differences in overall, cardiovascular, ischaemic heart disease and stroke mortality in the Republic of Mauritius.

Design: Analysis of vital registration mortality data from 1989 to 1994 among Hindus, Muslims, Chinese and Creoles, aged 30-64 years, presented as age-standardized mortality rates, proportional mortality ratios and standardized mortality ratios.

Results: During the six year period of analysis 10,657 deaths were recorded in men and 5008 in women.

Prevalence and risk factors for diabetic retinopathy in the multiethnic population of Mauritius.

This study examines the prevalence of, and risk factors for, diabetic retinopathy in Asian Indian, Chinese, and Creole Mauritians in whom there is an increasing prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). As part of a population-based survey on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius in 1992, glucose tolerance was classified using a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test on 6,553 persons. Subjects with newly diagnosed (n = 358) or known diabetes (n = 388), and a random sample of one in four subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (n = 165), had stereoscopic 45 degrees retinal photographs taken of three fields in the right eye after mydriasis.

Is there a relationship between leptin and insulin sensitivity independent of obesity? A population-based study in the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius. Mauritius NCD Study Group.

Objective: It has been shown previously in smaller studies that fasting serum leptin and insulin concentrations are highly correlated, and insulin sensitive men have lower leptin levels than insulin resistant men matched for fat mass. We have examined the association between insulin resistance (assessed by fasting insulin) and leptin after controlling for overall and central adiposity in a population-based cohort.

Design: Leptin levels were compared across insulin resistance quartiles within three categories of obesity (tertiles of body mass index (BMI)).

Fall in total cholesterol concentration over five years in association with changes in fatty acid composition of cooking oil in Mauritius: cross sectional survey.

Objective: To determine the extent to which reducing the saturated fatty acid composition of a ubiquitously used cooking oil influenced changes in cholesterol concentration in the population during a five year intervention programme in Mauritius.

Design: Cross sectional surveys in 1987 and 1992 determined mean total cholesterol concentrations in the population. A random sample of respondents in the 1992 survey completed a nutrition questionnaire that included questions on diet in the previous 24 hours.

Abdominal fat distribution and insulin levels only partially explain adverse cardiovascular risk profile in Asian Indians.

Background: Asian Indians show an increased risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and coronary heart disease, together with adverse fat distribution and hyperinsulinaemia relative to other ethnic groups. Using population-based data, we investigated the question of whether the adverse fat distribution observed in Indians can be explained by differences in behavioural risk factor levels. We have examined the question of whether ethnic differences in fat distribution are responsible for the unfavourable risk factor profile of Indians.

Relationship of insulin resistance to weight gain in nondiabetic Asian Indian, Creole, and Chinese Mauritians. Mauritius Non-communicable Disease Study Group.

There is evidence from animal models that postprandial insulin hypersecretion may precede the development of obesity and insulin resistance, but it is not clear if this is the case in humans. Recently, two longitudinal studies have suggested that insulin resistance acts to limit further weight gain rather than to promote it. The relationship of markers of insulin sensitivity and secretion to changes in weight and the waist to hip ratio (WHR) was therefore examined in nondiabetic Asian Indian (n = 2,169), Creole (n = 798), and Chinese (n = 189) Mauritians over a 5-year follow-up period.

Incidence, increasing prevalence, and predictors of change in obesity and fat distribution over 5 years in the rapidly developing population of Mauritius.

Objective: To investigate the incidence and trends in prevalence of obesity and adverse fat distribution in Mauritius over 5 years.

Design: Prevalence studies were conducted in 1987 and 1992, incidence was estimated in a sub-sample of subjects attending on both occasions.

Subjects: 5021 Indian, Creole and Chinese Mauritian adults aged 25-74 were examined in 1987, in 1992 5111 subjects were examined, of whom 3667 had data from 1987.

Physical inactivity and glucose intolerance in the multiethnic island of Mauritius.

The island nation of Mauritius, located in the southwest Indian Ocean, has a high prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) among all of its ethnic groups (Hindu and Muslim Indians, African-origin Creoles, and Chinese). These high rates of NIDDM among groups of varying genetic background provide strong support for the importance of environmental components in the etiology of the disease. Research in Mauritius using a simple activity scale has suggested that physical inactivity may be one of these components.

Changes in population cholesterol concentrations and other cardiovascular risk factor levels after five years of the non-communicable disease intervention programme in Mauritius. Mauritius Non-communicable Disease Study Group.

Objective: To study changes in the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease after a five year population-wide intervention programme promoting a healthy lifestyle in a developing country.

Design: Cross sectional cluster surveys in 1987 and 1992. Methodology included a two hour 75 g oral glucose tolerance test, measurement of body mass index, waist:hip ratio, basal lipid concentrations, and blood pressure; and a lifestyle questionnaire.

Factors associated with impaired vibration perception in Mauritians with normal and abnormal glucose tolerance. Mauritius NCD Study Group.

Vibration perception threshold (VPT) was measured in 1185 Indian, Creole, and Chinese men and women in Mauritius, where the current prevalence of diabetes mellitus in adults aged 25-74 years is estimated to be 13%. Vibration perception threshold was measured using a biothesiometer, at seven sites in the hand, wrist, foot, and ankle, during a population survey in 76% of 574 known diabetic patients (KDM), 79% of 525 newly diagnosed diabetic patients (NDM), 18% of 1121 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and in 127 normal subjects. The association of VPT with glucose tolerance and other risk factors was assessed in order to identify individuals most at risk of foot ulceration and to determine whether risk factors and normal levels for VPT in these ethnic groups were consistent with those reported for Caucasians.

Is hyperinsulinaemia a central characteristic of a chronic cardiovascular risk factor clustering syndrome? Mixed findings in Asian Indian, Creole and Chinese Mauritians. Mauritius Noncommunicable Disease Study Group.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether the constellation of cardiovascular disease risk factors, described as Insulin Resistance Syndrome, exists in the multi-ethnic population of Mauritius, and to assess whether hyperinsulinaemia is the key feature of this syndrome. A sample of 5080 Mauritian subjects (aged 25-74 years) was examined in a noncommunicable diseases survey in 1987. Survey procedure included an oral glucose tolerance test, and anthropometric, blood pressure, plasma lipids and serum insulin measurements.

Incidence of IDDM in Mauritian children and adolescents from 1986 to 1990.

Objective: To document the incidence of IDDM in Mauritian children and adolescents 0-19 yr of age from 1986 to 1990.

Research Design And Methods: We used a population-based register that used pediatricians, physicians, nutritionists, and general practitioners as a primary source of retrospective case ascertainment. The denominator data were obtained from the Statistics Office of the Ministry of Health (Port Louis, Mauritius).

Serum insulin and ECG abnormalities suggesting coronary heart disease in the populations of Mauritius and Nauru: cross-sectional and longitudinal associations.

Cross-sectional associations between insulin and ECG abnormalities suggestive of 'possible' and 'probable' coronary heart disease (CHD) in the populations of Nauru (n = 568) and Mauritius (n = 3280) have been examined in both non-diabetic and diabetic subjects. Additionally, the longitudinal relationship between baseline insulin and incident ECG abnormalities has been explored in non-diabetic Nauruans (n = 177) over 5 years. Age-adjusted mean 2-hour serum insulin was generally higher in subjects with ECG abnormalities than those with a normal ECG, but the difference was significant only for non-diabetic Mauritian men (p < 0.

Serum insulin distributions and reproducibility of the relationship between 2-hour insulin and plasma glucose levels in Asian Indian, Creole, and Chinese Mauritians. Mauritius NCD Study Group.

The relationship of 2-hour (post-75 g oral glucose) serum insulin levels with plasma glucose levels was studied in a population-based random sample comprising 2,627 Hindu Indians, 685 Muslim Indians, 1,351 Creoles (African, European, and Indian admixture), and 415 Chinese from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Known diabetic subjects taking oral hypoglycemic drugs or insulin were excluded from these analyses; 64% of all diabetic subjects had usable glucose and insulin data. Both fasting and 2-hour postload insulin levels were significantly higher in women than in men, and levels in both sexes were significantly greater in Hindu and Muslim Indian subjects than in Creoles or Chinese even after controlling for differences in age, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), and plasma glucose level.

Insulin and blood pressure levels are not independently related in Mauritians of Asian Indian, Creole or Chinese origin. The Mauritius Non-communicable Disease Study Group.

Objectives: There is conflicting evidence of a link between circulating insulin concentrations and blood pressure. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate this relationship in a representative population sample of different ethnic groups.

Design: A cross-sectional study was performed, using a random cluster sample of 5080 adults aged 25-74 years from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

The prevalence of coronary heart disease in the multi-ethnic and high diabetes prevalence population of Mauritius.

The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) was determined in a population survey in Mauritius where the prevalence of non-insulin dependent diabetes and mortality from CHD are amongst the highest in the world. Men and women aged 35-74 years of all major ethnic groups were included: Asian Indians (Hindus and Muslims), Creoles and Chinese. ECG abnormalities suggesting either 'probable CHD' or 'possible CHD' were defined using standard criteria.

Is serum anhydroglucitol an alternative to the oral glucose tolerance test for diabetes screening? The Mauritius Noncommunicable Diseases Study Group.

The oral glucose tolerance test is inconvenient for diabetes screening. In clinical studies a reduced serum anhydroglucitol level has proved to be a sensitive and specific test for diabetes. A new minicolumn enzymatic method which is simple and robust makes use in population screening feasible.

Electrocardiographic abnormalities and associated factors in Chinese living in Beijing and in Mauritius. The Mauritius Non-Communicable Disease Study Group.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of electrocardiographic abnormalities and to evaluate the association between these abnormalities and the levels of coronary heart disease among Chinese living in different environments.

Design: Cross sectional surveys.

Setting: Beijing, China, and the island of Mauritius.