Visceral fat is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the independent associations of abdominal fat (visceral and subcutaneous) and liver fat with all-cause mortality.


METHODS
Participants included 291 men [97 decedents and 194 controls; mean age, 56.4 +/- 12.0 (SD) years] who received a computed tomography (CT) examination at the preventive medicine clinic in Dallas, TX, between 1995 and 1999, with a mean mortality follow-up of 2.2 +/- 1.3 years. Abdominal fat was determined using contiguous CT images from the L3-L4 to L4-L5 intervertebral space. Liver fat was assessed using the CT-determined liver attenuation value, which is inversely related to liver fat. Logistic regression was used to determine the independent association between the fat depots and all-cause mortality.


RESULTS
During the study, there were 97 deaths. Visceral fat [odds ratio (OR) per SD: 1.83; 95% CI: 1.23 to 2.73], abdominal subcutaneous fat (1.44; 1.02 to 2.03), liver fat (0.64; 0.46 to 0.87), and waist circumference (1.41; 1.01 to 1.98) were significant individual predictors of mortality after controlling for age and length of follow-up. In a model including all three fat measures (subcutaneous, visceral, and liver fat), age, and length of follow-up, only visceral fat (1.93; 1.15 to 3.23) was a significant predictor of mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Visceral fat is a strong, independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men.
Kuk
Jennifer L
JL
School of Physical and Health Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
Katzmarzyk
Peter T
PT
Nichaman
Milton Z
MZ
Church
Timothy S
TS
Blair
Steven N
SN
Ross
Robert
R
D000368:Aged; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism*; D016014:Linear Models; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D050507:Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal / Q000378:metabolism*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio