title: Factors associated with visceral fat accumulation in the general population in Okinawa, Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical and biochemical factors associated with visceral fat accumulation in the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 1004 subjects who underwent a medical health checkup between April 2008 and March 2009. The medical health checkup included the following tests: Height, body weight, waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, urinalysis, blood-cell counts, blood chemistry, electrocardiography, chest radiography, and abdominal computed tomography (CT) for visceral fat accumulation. The patients' medical history and lifestyle factors were collected privately by nurses using a self-administered questionnaire, and they included questions regarding physical activity, sleep duration, dietary habits, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Visceral fat area (VFA) was defined as the sum of the intraperitoneal fat area at the level of the umbilicus with CT density in the range of -150 to -50 Hounsfield units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age and body mass index (BMI) of the study subjects were 57.0 years and 24.4 kg/m(2). In both male and females, VFA was significantly and positively correlated with WC (r = 0.532, P < 0.01; r = 0.612, P < 0.01). Subjects with high levels of VFA were primarily male with significantly higher age, height, body weight, BMI, systolic blood pressure (BP), diastolic BP, and hemoglobin in all subjects (P < 0.05). A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that VFA had a positive relationship with age ≥ 56, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m(2), and triglyceride level ≥ 149 in males (P < 0.05), whereas it had a positive relationship with age ≥ 58, BMI ≥ 24.4 kg/m(2), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level < 40 mg/dL, and current drinking in females (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that gender differences exist in the clinical and biochemical parameters associated with visceral fat accumulation.
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Shingo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arakaki
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeshiro
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hokama
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Kunikazu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hoshino
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruwaka
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Miwa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashiarakawa
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Gretchen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parrott
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Kozen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kinjo
authors.affiliation: Shingo Arakaki, Tatsuji Maeshiro, Kunikazu Hoshino, Shuichi Maruwaka, Miwa Higashiarakawa, Gretchen Parrott, Tetsuo Hirata, Jiro Fujita, Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan.
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
keywords: Alcohol consumption; Computed tomography; Metabolic syndrome; Visceral fat accumulation; Waist circumference