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Objective: The association between circulating betatrophin levels and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is controversial. The aim of our study was to systematically review available literature linking betatrophin to GDM for a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between circulating betatrophin levels and GDM in human. Methods: PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Medline and CNKI were searched for studies published up to August 2016. Manual searches of references of the relevant original studies were conducted. Pooled estimates were measured using the fixed or random effect model. Overall effect was reported in a standard mean difference (SMD). All data were analyzed with Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 12.0. Results: Of 25 references reviewed, 8 studies met our inclusion criteria and contributed to meta-analysis. All the studies were used to evaluate the relationship between betatrophin levels in blood and GDM. Betatrophin levels were significantly elevated in women with GDM compared with those without GDM (SMD = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.41–1.68, P = 0.001). This evidence was more consistent among women with betatrophin blood draw during the third trimester (SMD = 1.3, 95% CI: 1–1.61, P < 0.001) and for women BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 (SMD = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.30–1.75, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The evidences from this meta-analysis indicated that the levels of circulating betatrophin were significantly elevated among women with GDM compared with women with normal glucose tolerance, especially with BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 and in the third trimester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Central obesity is considered to be a central component of metabolic syndrome. Waist circumference (WC) has been widely used as a simple indicator of central obesity. This study is aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of WC cut-off values for predicting metabolic risk factors in middle-aged Chinese. Methods: The study involved 923 subjects aged 40–65 years. The metabolic risk factors were defined according to the Chinese Joint Committee for Developing Chinese Guidelines on Prevention and Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Adults. WC cut-off 85–90 cm and ≥90 cm were used as cut-off values of central pre-obesity and central obesity in males, respectively, while WC 80–85 cm and ≥85 cm were used as cut-off values of central pre-obesity and central obesity in females. Results: First, WC values corresponding to body mass index (BMI) 24 kg/m2 and visceral fat area (VFA) 80 cm2 were 88.55 cm and 88.51 cm in males, and 81.46 cm and 82.51 cm in females respectively. Second, receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the optimal WC cut-off of value was 88.75 cm in males, higher than that in females (81.75 cm). Third, the subjects with higher WC values were more likely to have accumulating metabolic risk factors. The prevalence of metabolic risk factors increased linearly and significantly in relation to WC levels. Conclusion: WC cut-off values of central pre-/central obesity are optimal to predict multiple metabolic risk factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]