Measures of abdominal obesity assessed for visceral adiposity and relation to coronary risk

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2004-08, Vol.28 (8), p.1018-1025
• Main Authors: Onat, A, Avcı, G Ş, Barlan, M M, Uyarel, H, Uzunlar, B, Sansoy, V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen; Adipose tissue; Biological and medical sciences; Body fat; Body mass index; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Complications and side effects; Computed tomography; Coronary heart disease; Epidemiology; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Heart; Internal Medicine; Measurement; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolic disorders; Obesity; Public Health; Regression analysis; Risk factors
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0802695

AIMS: We aimed to identify by computed tomography (CT) the best suited of three anthropometric indices that reflect the visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and to discern the relationship between VAT and certain atherogenic risk factors and coronary heart disease (CHD) diagnosis in a population sample which had a high (34%) prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS). METHODS: A single-scan CT was performed between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae in 157 unselected men and women aged 34–69 y. Total adipose tissue area, abdominal VAT area and the abdominal sagittal diameter were determined. Diagnosis of CHD was based on clinical findings and Minnesota coding of resting electrocardiograms. RESULTS: Men had significantly higher VAT than women. Linear regression analysis for correlates of abdominal VAT area, in a model comprising age, sex, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI) identified waist circumference as the only independent variable ( P