Abstract
The relationship of percent body fat (%BF) and body mass index (BMI) to blood pressure, serum lipids, hypertension and self-reported diagnosis of diabetes mellitus was examined in a crosssectional study of 1, 174 male employees at a railway company. The %BF was measured by using the near infra-red (NIR) method. Because of high collinearity between %BF and BMI (r=0.72), we categorized %BF into two groups at median within each quartile of BMI, and performed analysis of covariance on serum cholesterol (TC), serum triglycerides (TG), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Age-adjusted means of TC, TG, SBP, and DBP were almost progressively increased with increasing levels of BMI regardless of %BF, but there were nearly significant or significant interactions of %BF and BMI on TC, TG, and DBP ; serum lipid levels were higher in the upper %BF group than in the lower %BF group at lower levels of BMI while the difference in DBP was more evident at higher levels of BMI. There was also a significant interaction between %BF and BMI on the prevalence of hypertension (p=0.03) ; the prevalence was much higher in the upper %BF group than in the lower %BF group at the highest BMI level. Diabetes mellitus was not measurably associated with either BMI or %BF. These findings suggest that the measurement of %BF in addition to BMI provides useful information in the evaluation and management of individual's health. J Epidemiol, 1994 ; 4: 47-50.
