Comparison of visceral fat and liver fat as risk factors of metabolic syndrome

• Published in: Journal of Korean medical science 2012, 27(2), 160, pp.184-189
• Main Authors: Lee, Jeongseob, Chung, Dae-Sung, Kang, Jee-Hyun, Yu, Byung-Yeon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Blood Pressure; Body Composition; Demography; Fatty Liver - complications; Female; Humans; Intra-Abdominal Fat - anatomy & histology; Intra-Abdominal Fat - diagnostic imaging; Liver - anatomy & histology; Liver - diagnostic imaging; Logistic Models; Male; Metabolic Syndrome - diagnosis; Metabolic Syndrome - epidemiology; Metabolic Syndrome - etiology; Middle Aged; Odds Ratio; Original; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Spleen - anatomy & histology; Spleen - diagnostic imaging; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Young Adult; 의학일반
• ISSN: 1011-8934; 1598-6357
• DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2012.27.2.184

The principal objective of this study was to determine whether visceral fat or liver fat is a more relevant risk factor for metabolic syndrome. A total of 98 subjects aged 18-65 yr, who visited a health promotion center in a university hospital, were enrolled in this study. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the modified National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III report (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria. We defined the visceral obesity as a visceral fat area of ≥ 100 cm(2) which was acquired by CT at the L4-5 level. To evaluate fatty liver, we applied a liver-to-spleen attenuation ratio ≤ 1.1 as measured by CT at the T12 level. We employed binary logistic regression models that used the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome as a dependent variable and age, sex, and the presence or absence of visceral obesity and fatty liver as independent variables. Visceral obesity was not found to be an independent variable as a risk factor of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio 2.7; 95% confidence interval 0.55-13.30), but fatty liver was found to be significant in this model (odds ratio 71.3; 95% CI 13.04-389.53). Our study suggests that liver fat may be a more important risk factor than visceral fat in terms of its association with metabolic syndrome.