Visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio as a predictor of the multiple metabolic risk factors for subjects with normal waist circumference in Korea

Abstract

PurposeVisceral obesity has been recognized as a predictor of metabolic risk factors. However, few studies have evaluated the metabolic risks in subjects with normal waist circumference (WC). We aimed to examine if the visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR) has diagnostic value to identify multiple metabolic risk factors in subjects with normal WC, compared with visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA).MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study in which we have compared mean VFA, SFA, and VSR according to each metabolic risk factor. We performed a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for VFA, SFA, and VSR to assess their accuracy in picking out two or more non-adipose factors for metabolic syndrome.ResultsFor each metabolic risk factor, mean VSRs were significantly different between groups (risk-absent group vs risk-present group) in men and women, except for men with low high-density lipoprotein. However, mean VFAs and SFAs showed no significant differences between groups. VSR showed superior diagnostic values in predicting at least two non-adipose metabolic risk factors in men and similar diagnostic value in women. Areas under ROC curves for VSR and VFA were 0.705 and 0.649 in men (P=0.028) and 0.798 and 0.785 in women (P=0.321).ConclusionFor men with a normal WC, VSR appeared to effectively predict the presence of multiple metabolic risk factors. Thus, VSR may serve as an indicator for identifying men who have a normal WC and multiple metabolic risk factors.

Association of Body Composition and Anthropometric Measurement with Hypertension among Workers in Universitas Ahmad Dahlan

“…These results were different with other research that found that higher BMI, WHR and total body fat had a strong association with hypertension in mining workers (6,17). The difference of the findings because in our study we are different condition in workers, characteristics of body composition, or there were other better indicator such as the research of Oh et al (18) in Korea that found other indicators that could predict hypertension and other metabolic risk factors better in normal waist circumference called visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR). There was also, hypertension strongly affected by another risk factors such as nutrition intake especially sodium intake had higher impact to blood pressure than another risk factors because more than half of Indonesian people (52.7%) are categorized as high sodium intake as described as sodium intake >2000mg/day (19).…”

“…After continued to multivariate analysis, visceral fat was found as the strongest predictor of hypertension in workers. These findings were similar to another study that also found that visceral fat consistently impacts to hypertension (10,18). We can conclude that among workers in this study, visceral fat was the independent determinant of hypertension.…”

“…Total body fat was categorized into 4 categories: low, normal, high, and very high. Visceral fat was categorized into 3 categories: normal (0.5-9.5), high (10-14.5), and very high (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). Blood pressure measurement divided into 4 categories based on Joint National Committee VII: normal (<120/<80), prehypertension (120-139/80-89), stage 1 hypertension (140-159/90-99), and stage 2 hypertension (≥160/≥100) (12).…”

O-GlcNAc transferase inhibits visceral fat lipolysis and promotes diet-induced obesity

“…Besides the overall obesity, the anatomical location of fat also matters in disease development. Studies have shown that intra-abdominal visceral fat is strongly positively correlated with obesity-related diseases, while peripheral subcutaneous fat seems to have no effect or even a protective effect against developing metabolic syndrome [6][7][8][9][10] . However, the biological and genetic differences between visceral and subcutaneous fat are poorly understood.…”

Epigenetic regulation of Neuregulin-1 tunes white adipose stem cell differentiation

“…More specifically, the accumulation of adipose tissue in the visceral regions (intra-body cavity and near vital organs) is associated with an elevated risk of diabetes [3] and cardiovascular disease [4] , while subcutaneous lipid storage (within depots just under the skin) is comparatively benign [5,6] . Indeed, the visceral-to-subcutaneous adiposity ratio has been proposed as a predictor of metabolic health [7,8] and a study of obese individuals that transitioned from metabolically healthy to unhealthy obesity showed a corresponding increase in visceral fat [9] . Evidence has begun to accumulate suggesting that adipogenesis--differentiation of new fat cells--within subcutaneous depots is a key factor in modulating healthy versus unhealthy adipose tissue deposition.…”