Evaluation of the prevalence of metabolically healthy obesity and metabolically unhealthy normal-weight in Qatar, and investigation of the underlying mechanisms using an integrated multi-omics approach: a cross-sectional study in the QBB cohort

Qatar ranks among the top twenty countries globally in diabetes prevalence, with 15.6% of the population affected. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) represents 90-95 % of all diabetes cases. Prediabetes is also highly prevalent and affects 25 to 30% adults. The etiology of T2D implicates genetic predisposition and environmental factors. While one cannot exclude an increased genetic predisposition of the Qatari population to T2D, it is recognized that T2D/prediabetes epidemics in Qatar are attributed to the overweight/obesity (BMI >25 kg/m2) epidemic that followed the nutritional shift to calorie-rich western diets and a sedentary lifestyle, which in turn followed the country's recent economic growth. Besides T2D, overweight/obesity is linked to other disorders, including hypertension, NAFLD, obstructive sleep apnea and arrhythmias, all of which raise the risk of cardiometabolic disease.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)