title: Abdominal fat distribution and carotid atherosclerosis in a general population: a semi-automated method using magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Available evidence suggests functional differences in visceral and subcutaneous fat. We investigated the association between quantitative measures of central adiposity with indicators of carotid atherosclerosis including intima-media thickness (IMT) and plaque in a general population using a semi-automated method on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study 200 subjects (52 % female), aged 50-77 years, were randomly selected from Golestan Cohort Study. Participants underwent ultrasound examination of carotid arteries and abdominal MRI. Segmentation and calculation of visceral (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) were performed on three levels using semi-automated software. Various conventional anthropometric indices were also measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 191 enrolled subjects, 77 (40 %) participants had IMT ≥0.8 mm. Carotid plaques were detected in 86 (44 %) subjects. In separate multivariate analysis models, unlike SFA and other anthropometric indices, the last tertile of VFA values was associated with at least threefold excess risk for IMT ≥0.8 mm (OR 3.8, 95 % CI 1.36-6.94, p = 0.02). There was no significant difference between mean values of categorized obesity indices in subjects with and without plaque, while participants in the highest tertile of VFA values were demonstrated to have higher risk of more than one plaque (OR 4.57, 95 % CI 1.03-20.11, p = 0.034).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A higher amount of visceral fat, measured by a semi-automated technique using MRI, is associated with increased IMT and having more than one carotid plaque in a general population, while subcutaneous fat measures are poor indicators for identifying carotid atherosclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14114, Iran.|Digestive Tract Image Processing Research Group, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Radmard
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar St., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Poustchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14114, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14114, Iran.|Students' Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Faezeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khorasanizadeh
authors.affiliation: Digestive Tract Image Processing Research Group, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.|Neuroscience Department, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoonessi
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14114, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Pejman
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Hashemi Taheri
authors.affiliation: Digestive Tract Image Processing Research Group, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar Ave., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Sadegh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rahmanian
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar St., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jafari
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar St., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malekzadeh
authors.affiliation: Liver and Pancreatobiliary Diseases Research Center, Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, North Kargar St., Tehran, 14117-13135, Iran. merat@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Shahin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Merat
mesh_terms: D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000368:Aged; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: Carotid atherosclerosis; Magnetic resonance imaging; Subcutaneous fat; Ultrasound; Visceral fat