Reduction of visceral fat correlates with the decrease in the number of obesity-related cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese with Abdominal Obesity (VACATION-J Study).
OBJECTIVE
Visceral fat accumulation is associated with obesity-related cardiovascular risk factor accumulation and atherosclerosis. The present study investigated whether one-year reduction of the visceral fat area (VFA) correlates with a decrease in the number of such factors in Japanese with or without visceral fat accumulation.


METHODS
The study subjects comprised 5,347 Japanese, who underwent health check-ups in 2007 and 2008, including measurements of VFA and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) by computed tomography at 9 centers in Japan. Subjects with one or more such factor(s) were categorized into tertiles based on the one-year change in VFA. We investigated the multivariate age, sex, and one-year change in SFA-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for reductions in the number of risk factors in each of the three categories based on the one-year change in VFA, in subjects with one or more such factors (n= 3,648).


RESULTS
In the entire group (n=3,648), the OR and 95%CI for reductions in the number of risk factors in the first tertile were 0.804 (0.673-0.962, p=0.0172), compared with the second tertile set at 1.0. Subjects with VFA <100cm(2) showed no reduction in the number of risk factors. In subjects with VFA≥100 cm(2), OR in the first tertile was 0.788 (0.639-0.972, p=0.0257) relative to the second tertile set at 1.0.


CONCLUSIONS
In subjects with multiple cardiovascular risk factors, visceral fat reduction correlated with a decrease in the number of such factors in subjects with VFA≥100cm(2), but not in those with VFA<100cm(2).
Department of Metabolic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Aki
A
Hiuge-Shimizu
Ken
K
Kishida
Tohru
T
Funahashi
Yuko
Y
Ishizaka
Rie
R
Oka
Minoru
M
Okada
Shizu
S
Suzuki
Norihide
N
Takaya
Tohru
T
Nakagawa
Toshiki
T
Fukui
Hiroshi
H
Fukuda
Naoya
N
Watanabe
Tohru
T
Yoshizumi
Tetsuya
T
Ohira
Tadashi
T
Nakamura
Yuji
Y
Matsuzawa
Minoru
M
Yamakado
Iichiro
I
Shimomura
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000150:complications*; D012307:Risk Factors; D015431:Weight Loss