UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The Association Between Race/Ethnicity and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women Varies by BMI: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Data From 15 Cohort Studies

Nagai, Kazue; Chung, Hsin-Fang; Hayashi, Kunihiko; Dobson, Annette J; Ideno, Yuki; Sandin, Sven; van der Schouw, Yvonne T; ... Mishra, Gita D; + view all (2026) The Association Between Race/Ethnicity and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women Varies by BMI: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Data From 15 Cohort Studies. Diabetes Care , 49 (2) pp. 247-256. 10.2337/dc25-1478. Green open access

[thumbnail of Ethnicity and T2DM in women_manuscript_accepted.pdf]
Preview
Text
Ethnicity and T2DM in women_manuscript_accepted.pdf

Download (572kB) | Preview

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between race/ethnicity and type 2 diabetes risk in women and assess the interaction between race/ethnicity and BMI. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We analyzed individual-level data from 730,408 women across 15 cohort studies. Six racial/ethnic groups were identified: White, Chinese, Japanese, South/Southeast Asian, Black, and mixed/other. Cox proportional hazards models with study as a random effect were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for type 2 diabetes associated with race/ethnicity. The joint association of race/ethnicity and BMI was assessed using BMI categories incorporating Asian-specific cutoffs (<18.5, 18.5-22.9, 23.0-24.9, 25.0-27.4, 27.5-29.9, and ≥30 kg/m2), with White women having a BMI of 18.5-22.9 kg/m2as the reference. RESULTS: Overall, 37,329 women (5.1%) were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. By age 70, the cumulative incidence was highest among South/Southeast Asian (24.6%) and Black women (23.6%), with baseline obesity rates of 40.0% (BMI ≥27.5 kg/m2) and 45.6% (BMI ≥30 kg/m2), respectively. After adjusting for BMI, South/Southeast Asian women had the highest diabetes risk compared with White women (HR 4.13, 95% CI 3.78-4.51), while other racial/ethnic groups had about twice the risk. Joint effect analysis showed South/Southeast Asian women with a BMI ≥23 kg/m2had a substantially greater diabetes risk than other racial/ethnic groups with the same BMI, especially those with BMI 27.5-29.9 kg/m2(HR 23.17, 19.21-27.95) and ≥30 kg/m2(HR 35.52, 30.57-41.28). CONCLUSIONS: South/Southeast Asian women have a markedly elevated risk of type 2 diabetes, further amplified by modestly higher BMI, highlighting the need for ethnicity-specific diabetes prevention strategies for women.

Type: Article
Title: The Association Between Race/Ethnicity and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Women Varies by BMI: A Pooled Analysis of Individual Data From 15 Cohort Studies
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.2337/dc25-1478
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.2337/dc25-1478
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. It has been made open access under the Creative Commons (CC BY) licence under the terms of the UCL Intellectual Property (IP) Policy and UCL Publications Policy.
Keywords: Race/ethnicity; body mass index; type 2 diabetes; women
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine > MRC Unit for Lifelong Hlth and Ageing
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10219063
Downloads since deposit
1Download
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item