The association between triglycerides and ectopic fat obesity: An inverted U-shaped curve

Abstract

Background Ectopic fat obesity and triglycerides are risk factors for diabetes and multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, there have been limited studies on the association between triglycerides and ectopic fat obesity. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between triglycerides and ectopic fat obesity. Methods and results In this cross-sectional study, we retrospectively analyzed 15464 adult participants recruited by Murakami Memorial Hospital (8430 men and 7034 women, average age of 43.71 ± 8.90). All patients were divided into two groups according to the threshold used to diagnose hypertriglyceridemia. The logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between triglycerides and the risk of ectopic fat obesity, and the generalized additive model was used to identify the nonlinear association. In this study population, the prevalence of ectopic fat obesity was 17.73%. After adjusting other covariables, triglycerides were positively correlated with the risk of ectopic fat obesity (OR: 1.54, 95% CI:1.41–1.69, P<0.0001). Through smooth curve fitting, we found that there was an inverted U-shaped curve association between triglycerides and ectopic fat obesity. This association remained unchanged even if the adjusted covariables were removed from the model, and the inflection point of the curve was 3.98. When triglyceride levels were ≤3.98, triglycerides were positively correlated with the risk of ectopic fat obesity (OR:1.784, 95% CI:1.611–1.975, P<0.0001). When triglyceride levels were >3.98 (right side of the inflection point), there was a negative correlation (OR:0.519, 95% CI:0.333–0.810, P = 0.0039). Conclusions Our research showed that there is a significant association between triglycerides and ectopic fat obesity. This relation is not a simple linear relationship but instead an inverted U-shaped curve association.

The usefulness of obesity and lipid-related indices to predict the presence of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…The formulas for calculating obesity and lipid-related indices are shown in Fig. 1 [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…In this context, a number of simple anthropometric indicators, biochemical indicators, and some combination of indicators, and even complex digital models have been developed to assess NAFLD risk. Among them, obesity and lipid-related indices are the most effective markers for predicting NAFLD and are widely used in epidemiological studies, including triglyceride (TG), conicity index (COI), visceral adiposity index (VAI), triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, body roundness index (BRI), body mass index (BMI), hepatic steatosis index (HSI), waist circumference (WC), body-shape index (ABSI), waist-toheight ratio (WHtR), lipid accumulation product (LAP), triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio, and TyG index-related parameters (TyG-WHtR, TyG-BMI, TyG-WC) [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. At present, there are very few comparative studies on the prediction of NAFLD by obesity and lipid-related indices.…”

Triglyceride glucose-body mass index and the risk of diabetes: a general population-based cohort study

“…With changes in social structure, lifestyle and diet, some subtle changes have taken place in the human body structure, especially fat storage, which has increased significantly [ 37 , 38 ]. Relying solely on BMI to distinguish obesity cannot reflect this information [ 39 ].…”

Impact of Exercise and Detraining during Childhood on Brown Adipose Tissue Whitening in Obesity

“…The transformation of the lipid depot from multilocular to unilocular has been reported in brown adipocytes in obesity; the change from BAT to WAT is known as whitening [7,8]. Excess and ectopic fat accumulation, including BAT whitening, are major risk factors for the development of hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease [9]. Previous studies have reported that BAT whitening is associated with downregulation of mitochondrial proteins [10,11].…”

“…BAT whitening attenuates energy consumption and accelerates the progression of obesity [9,28,29]. Therefore, inhibition of BAT whitening in childhood is important to decrease the incidence of obesity in adulthood.…”