Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Body Mass Index and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Objectives The association between body mass index (BMI) and total body adiposity differs across ethnic groups. For instance, South Asians (SA) and East Asians (EA) have lower body fat for a given BMI level than Europeans, while the opposite is true for African-Caribbeans (AC). This suggests that the relationship between BMI and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk may also vary depending on ethnicity. We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate whether the association between BMI and the risk of T2D differs across ethnic groups.