The purpose of this study was to investigate whether abdominal fat measurements from dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) of the lumbar region and the hip could predict risk for subsequent diabetes in women undergoing osteoporosis investigation. The cohort study included 30,252 nondiabetic women aged 40 years and older who were referred for osteoporosis assessment with DEXA. During 5.2±2.6 years of observation, 1,252 (4.1%) cases of incident diabetes were recorded. An association was found between abdominal fat measured by spine DEXA and risk of developing diabetes, independent of age and body mass index (BMI). In contrast, hip fat measured from hip DEXA did not predict diabetes risk after adjusting for age and BMI. Thus, lumbar spine DEXA scans are effective to predict diabetes risk supporting once again the relationship between abdominal fat and metabolic complications.
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