OBJECTIVE: To get accurate measurements of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). DESIGN: DXA and anthropometric data and their combinations were compared to the VAT area calculated from a computed tomography (CT) single scan. SUBJECTS: 71 overweight subjects (44 women, 27 men), age: 16 ± 70 y, BMI: 27 ± 52 kgam 2 . MEASUREMENTS: Total body and segmental tissue composition, and new parameters obtained from DXA, in addition to waist and hip cicumferences and abdominal sagittal diameter measurements. RESULTS: The ratio measured at the umbilical level (sagittal diameter À À subcutaneous fat width) Â (transverse internal diameter)a(height) was closely related to VAT (r 0.94 for women and 0.88 for men). It gave the most predictive equation for VAT: y 79.6x (s.e. 3.9) À À 149 cm 2 for the whole population (r 2 0.86, P`0.0001, root mean square error 38.2 cm 2 . An independent relationship between lean mass or its index (r 0.52 and 0.72, P`0.001) and VAT was also found in women. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the potential usefulness of DXA to supply accurate measurements of VAT in addition to total body composition determination in obese subjects.
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