Visceral Obesity Is a More Important Factor for Colorectal Adenomas than Skeletal Muscle or Body Fat

Abstract

Objective: Although the incidence of colorectal adenomas increases with obesity, the role of various body compositions is still unknown. We aimed to determine which body composition best reflects the risk of colorectal adenomas. Methods: Patients aged 50–75 years who underwent colonoscopy and a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) for a health check-up from 2017 to 2019 were retrospectively enrolled. The skeletal muscle index (SMI), fat mass index (FMI), and visceral fat index (VFI) were obtained using BIA. The muscle-to-fat ratio (MFR) and the skeletal muscle mass to visceral fat area ratio (SVR) were calculated. Results: Among 15,102 patients, 6605 (43.7%) had adenomas. SMI, FMI, MFR, VFI, and SVR were all associated with the risk of adenomas and high-risk adenomas in the age- and sex-adjusted model. When further adjusted for metabolic and lifestyle factors, VFI was the only factor significantly associated with the risk of colorectal adenomas and high-risk adenomas (adenomas: odds ratio (OR) 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22–1.61; high-risk adenomas: OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.16–1.87, for the highest quartile). Conclusion: Among the various body indices, VFI was the most important index associated with the development of colorectal adenoma. More attention should be paid to visceral fat when predicting the risk of colorectal adenomas.

Editorial: State of the art body composition profiling: Advances in imaging modalities and patient outcomes

“…Nevertheless, BC assessment is not yet a standard tool of the routine workup of oncologic patients. This is likely due to the heterogeneity of available data, to the shortage of prospective studies and systematic reviews, to the absence of standardized assessment methods, and to the variation of BC among different populations ( 2 ).…”