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Intra-abdominal obesity and metabolic risk factors: a study of young adults

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative importance of the extent and regional distribution of fat for metabolic risk factors in young adults.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of findings from a hospital-based case–control study.

SUBJECTS: A total of 46 adult Danish Caucasian patients (40 men and six women, aged 34–54 y). Of these, 22 had had non fatal acute myocardial infarction before 41 y of age and 24 were age- and gender-matched controls without coronary heart disease.

MEASUREMENTS: Four measurements of fat: body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), body fat percentage measured using a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanner, waist/hip circumference ratio (WHR), and intra-abdominal adipose tissue area measured using computed tomography (CT) scanning, and eight metabolic risk factors: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HbA1c percentage, fasting concentrations of capillary whole blood glucose, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum triglyceride, plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), and urinary albumin:creatinine excretion ratio.

RESULTS: Of 46 participants, 10 were obese (BMI >30 kg/m2), 12 were abdominally obese (WHR >0.90 for men and >0.85 for women), and 20 were intra-abdominally obese (intra-abdominal adipose tissue area >135 cm2). Men had a higher intra-abdominal adipose tissue area than women (P=0.0053, Mann–Whitney U-test). In multiple regression analyses of the four fat variables, only intra-abdominal adipose tissue area significantly predicted the levels of six metabolic risk factors: systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting concentrations of capillary whole blood glucose, serum HDL cholesterol, serum triglyceride, and PAI-1. The intra-abdominal adipose tissue area had a linear relation with the six metabolic risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS: For young individuals, intra-abdominal fat is the important component of the body fat for six of the eight metabolic risk factors. Intra-abdominal fat might contribute to that most patients with acute myocardial infarction at a young age are men.

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Acknowledgements

The study received financial support from the Foundation for Medical Research of Ringkoebing, Ribe, and Southern Jutland Counties, director Jacob Madsen and wife Olga Madsens Foundation, Lyksfeldts Foundation, and Johannes Klein's Foundation. Professor R Mazess, Lunar Radiation Corporation, Wisconsin, USA, provided a phantom for calibrating the DEXA scannings at Herning Central Hospital.

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Correspondence to F E von Eyben.

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Presented in part at the Hypertension 2002 conference, Mölmdal, Sweden, 24 May 2002, and in a letter to the editor, Lancet 2002; 360: 1978–1979.

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von Eyben, F., Mouritsen, E., Holm, J. et al. Intra-abdominal obesity and metabolic risk factors: a study of young adults. Int J Obes 27, 941–949 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802309

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