Comparison of visceral fat and liver fat as risk factors of metabolic syndrome.
The principal objective of this study was to determine whether visceral fat or liver fat is a more relevant risk factor for metabolic syndrome. A total of 98 subjects aged 18-65 yr, who visited a health promotion center in a university hospital, were enrolled in this study. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the modified National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III report (NCEP-ATPIII) criteria. We defined the visceral obesity as a visceral fat area of ≥ 100 cm(2) which was acquired by CT at the L4-5 level. To evaluate fatty liver, we applied a liver-to-spleen attenuation ratio ≤ 1.1 as measured by CT at the T12 level. We employed binary logistic regression models that used the presence or absence of metabolic syndrome as a dependent variable and age, sex, and the presence or absence of visceral obesity and fatty liver as independent variables. Visceral obesity was not found to be an independent variable as a risk factor of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio 2.7; 95% confidence interval 0.55-13.30), but fatty liver was found to be significant in this model (odds ratio 71.3; 95% CI 13.04-389.53). Our study suggests that liver fat may be a more important risk factor than visceral fat in terms of its association with metabolic syndrome.
Department of Family Medicine, Konyang University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.
Jeongseob
J
Lee
Dae-Sung
DS
Chung
Jee-Hyun
JH
Kang
Byung-Yeon
BY
Yu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001823:Body Composition; D003710:Demography; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013154:Spleen / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult