A single threshold value of waist girth identifies normal-weight and overweight subjects with excess visceral adipose tissue

Our objective was to determine threshold values of waist girth, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and sagittal diameter corresponding to an accumulation of visceral adipose tissue of 130 cm2 and to verify whether these threshold values could be influenced by sex, age, menopausal status, and the degree of ob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of clinical nutrition 1996-11, Vol.64 (5), p.685-693
Main Authors: Lemieux, S, Prud’homme, D, Bouchard, C, Tremblay, A, Després, JP
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipose Tissue - anatomy & histology
Adipose Tissue - physiology
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Anthropometry
Biological and medical sciences
Body Composition - physiology
Body Constitution
Body fat
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Metabolic diseases
Middle Aged
Obesity
Obesity - diagnosis
Obesity - epidemiology
Obesity - physiopathology
Predictive Value of Tests
Regression Analysis
Risk Factors
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Weight
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Summary:Our objective was to determine threshold values of waist girth, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and sagittal diameter corresponding to an accumulation of visceral adipose tissue of 130 cm2 and to verify whether these threshold values could be influenced by sex, age, menopausal status, and the degree of obesity. From the regression equations computed in the total sample of 213 men [aged (mean+/- SD) 37.8 +/- 12.2 y] and 190 women (aged 37.3 +/- 12.1 y), a waist girth of approximately 95 cm in both sexes, WHR values of 0.94 in men and of 0.88 in women, and sagittal diameters of 22.8 cm in men and 25.2 cm in women corresponded to a visceral adipose tissue area of 130 cm2. In both sexes, threshold values of waist girth corresponding to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue were generally lower in subjects who were > or = 40 y old (approximately 90 cm) than in younger individuals (approximately 100 cm). Similar differences were found for WHR and sagittal diameter threshold values. Finally, threshold values of waist girth corresponding to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue were essentially similar in normal-weight and overweight men and women, whereas threshold values of WHR were in general higher in normal-weight than in overweight subjects. In conclusion, our results suggest that the relations of anthropometric variables to visceral adipose tissue accumulation are age-specific. However, waist girth is likely to be a more convenient anthropometric correlate of visceral adipose tissue than the WHR because threshold values of waist girth corresponding to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue do not appear to be influenced by sex or by the degree of obesity.
ISSN:0002-9165
1938-3207
DOI:10.1093/ajcn/64.5.685