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Comparison of anthropometric, area- and volume-based assessment of abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue volumes using multi-detector computed tomography

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, pages 500–506 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose:

Cross-sectional imaging may enable accurate localization and quantification of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue. The reproducibility of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT)-based volumetric quantification of abdominal adipose tissue and the ability to depict age- and gender-related characteristics of adipose tissue deposition have not been reported.

Methods:

We evaluated a random subset of 100 Caucasian subjects (age range: 37–83 years; 49% women) of the Framingham Heart Study offspring cohort who underwent MDCT scanning. Two readers measured subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue volumes (SAV and VAV; cm3) and areas (SAA and VAA; cm2) as well as abdominal sagital diameter (SD) and waist circumference (WC).

Results:

Inter-reader reproducibility was excellent (relative difference: −0.34±0.52% for SAV and 0.59±0.93% for VAV, intra-class correlation (ICC)=0.99 each). The mean SAA/VAA ratio was significantly different from the mean SAV/VAV ratio (2.0±1.2 vs 1.7±0.9; P<0.001). The ratio of SAV/VAV was only weakly inversely associated with SD (ICC=−0.32, P=0.01) and not significantly associated with WC (ICC=−0.14, P=0.14) or body mass index (ICC=−0.17, P=0.09). The mean SAV/VAV ratio was significantly different between participants <60 vs >60 years (1.9±1.0 vs 1.5±0.7; P<0.001) and between men and women (1.2±0.5 vs 2.2±0.9; P<0.001).

Conclusion:

This study demonstrates that MDCT-based volumetric quantification of abdominal adipose tissue is highly reproducible. In addition, our results suggest that volumetric measurements can depict age- and gender-related differences of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue deposition. Further research is warranted to assess whether volumetric measurements may substantially improve the predictive value of obesity measures for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and other diseases.

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Acknowledgements

The Framingham Heart Study is supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (N01-HC-25195).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiology Department, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    P Maurovich-Horvat, F Moselewski & U Hoffmann

  2. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    P Maurovich-Horvat

  3. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA

    J Massaro, C S Fox & C J O'Donnell

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    J Massaro

  5. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    C S Fox

  6. Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    C J O'Donnell

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Correspondence to U Hoffmann.

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Maurovich-Horvat, P., Massaro, J., Fox, C. et al. Comparison of anthropometric, area- and volume-based assessment of abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue volumes using multi-detector computed tomography. Int J Obes 31, 500–506 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803454

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803454

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