title: Ethnic influences on the relations between abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adiposity, liver fat, and cardiometabolic risk profile: the International Study of Prediction of Intra-Abdominal Adiposity and Its Relationship With Cardiometabolic Risk/Intra-Abdominal Adiposity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ethnic differences in cardiometabolic risk (CMR) may be related to patterns of ethnic-specific body fat distribution.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to identify differences across ethnic groups in interrelations between BMI, abdominal adiposity, liver fat, and CMR profile.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the International Study of Prediction of Intra-Abdominal Adiposity and Its Relationship With Cardiometabolic Risk/Intra-Abdominal Adiposity, 297 physicians recruited 4504 patients (from 29 countries). In the current cross-sectional analyses, 2011 whites, 166 African Caribbean blacks, 381 Hispanics, 1192 East Asians, and 347 Southeast Asians were included. Computed tomography was used to assess abdominal fat distribution and to estimate liver fat content. Anthropometric variables and CMR profile were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher ranges of BMI were associated with higher levels of visceral [visceral adipose tissue (VAT)] and deep subcutaneous [deep subcutaneous adipose tissue (DSAT)] adiposity, with significant ethnic differences regarding the slope of these relations. Despite lower absolute BMI values, East Asians presented the largest accumulation of VAT but the lowest accumulation of DSAT with increasing adiposity. The association of BMI with liver fat did not differ between ethnic groups. Liver fat and DSAT were positively correlated with VAT with no ethnic variation. All ethnic groups had a similar association between a 1-SD increase in VAT, DSAT, or liver fat with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterol concentration, or high C-reactive protein concentration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ethnicity significantly affects abdominal adiposity and liver fat partitioning, and East Asians have the most deleterious abdominal fat distribution. Irrespective of ethnicity, abdominal and hepatic fat depots are strongly interrelated and increased with obesity. Higher amounts of VAT or liver fat are associated with a more deteriorated CMR profile in all ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Julie-Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nazare
authors.forename: Jessica D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Borel
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Haffner
authors.forename: Beverley
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Balkau
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massien
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alméras
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Després
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000208:ethnology; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000473:pathology*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal / Q000503:physiopathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D050507:Subcutaneous Fat, Abdominal / Q000473:pathology*; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D002097:C-Reactive Protein