Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To investigate in a population-based random sample of postmenopausal women the adjusted association of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) with coronary risk factors.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based random sample study.
SUBJECTS: Ninety-eight postmenopausal women (age 50–65 y).
MEASUREMENTS: Visceral and subcutaneous fat areas by computer axial tomography, anthropometry, lipid profile, fasting glucose and insulin, diet, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol intake.
RESULTS: Compared to women with low VAT, women with high VAT (>117.8 cm2) had a less favorable metabolic profile with significantly higher fasting glucose (120±50 vs 98±39), insulin (7.9±10 vs 5±8), triglycerides (172±69 vs 127±72), apolipoprotein B (119±24 vs 98±32) and significantly lower HDL-C (38±10 vs 46±14) values in the whole sample (n=98). A similar profile was found in women without diabetes and hypertension (n=39). In multiple regression models, VAT explained a portion of the variance of TG (6.2%) in the entire sample and of total cholesterol (12.4%), LDL-C (15.8%), triglycerides (16.3%), apolipoprotein B (11.6%), and fasting glucose (28.4%) in the group of non-diabetic or hypertensive women. Our VAT cut-off point of 117.8 cm2 corresponded to a waist circumference of 84 cm.
CONCLUSION: Our results in a random population-based sample of postmenopausal women confirm the association of VAT with most coronary risk factors. These associations persisted after adjusting for diet, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol intake.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Larsson B, Svardsudd K, Welin L, Wilhelmsen L, Bjorntorp P, Tibblin G . Abdominal adipose tissue distribution, obesity and risk of cardiovascular disease and death: a 13 y follow up of participants in the study of men born in 1913 Br Med J 1984 288: 1401–1404.
Després J, Nadeau A, Tremblay A, Ferland M, Moorjani S, Lupien P, Thériault G, Pinault S, Bouchard C . Role of deep abdominal fat in the association between regional adipose tissue distribution and glucose tolerance in obese women Diabetes 1989 38: 304–309.
Després J, Moorjani S, Ferland M, Tremblay A, Lupien P, Nadeau A, Pinault S, Thériault G, Bouchard C . Adipose tissue distribution and plasma lipoprotein levels in obese women. Importance of intra-abdominal fat Arteriosclerosis 1989 9: 203–210.
Williams M, Hunter G, Kekes-Szabo T, Trueth M, Snyder S, Berland L, Blaudeau T . Intra-abdominal adipose tissue cut-points related to elevated cardiovascular risk in women Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 20: 613–617.
Hunter G, Kekes-Szabo T, Treuth M, Williams M, Goran M, Pichon C . Intra-abdominal adipose tissue, physical activity and cardiovascular risk in pre- and post-menopausal women Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 20: 860–865.
Boyko E, Leonetti D, Bergstrom R, Newell-Morris L, Fujimoto W . Visceral adiposity, fasting plasma insulin, and lipid and lipoprotein levels in Japanese Americans Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 20: 801–808.
Zamboni M, Armellini F, Milani M, De Marchi M, Todesco T, Robbi R, Bergamo-Andreis I, Bosello O . Body fat distribution in pre- and post-menopausal women: metabolic and anthropometric variables and their inter-relationships Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1992 16: 495–504.
Brochu M, Starling R, Tchernof A, Matthews D, Garcia-Rubi E, Poehlman E . Visceral adipose tissue is an independent correlate of glucose disposal in older obese postmenopausal women J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000 85: 2378–2384.
Imamura T, Kano H, Shin K, Konjiki O, Ohsawa Y, Takasaki M . Relationship between abdominal fat distribution assessed by computed tomography and serum lipids in the elderly Jpn J Geriat 1993 30: 123–129.
DiPietro I, Katz L, Nadel E . Excess abdominal adiposity remains correlated with altered lipid concentrations in healthy older women Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999 23: 432–436.
Seidell J, Bouchard C . Visceral fat in relation to health: is it a major culprit or simply an innocent bystander? [Mini-Review] Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1997 21: 626–631.
Baecke J, Burema J, Frijters J . A short questionnaire for the measurement of physical activity in epidemiological studies Am J Clin Nutr 1982 36: 936–942.
Kvist H, Chowdhury B, Grangard U, Tylén U, Sjöström L . Total and visceral adipose-tissue volumes derived from measurements with computed tomography in adult men and women: predictive equations Am J Clin Nutr 1988 48: 1351–1361.
Siedel J, Heagele OE, Ziegenhorn J . Reagent for the enzymatic determination of serum total cholesterol with improved lipolytic efficiency Clin Chem 1984 29: 1075–1080.
Nagele U, Heagele OE, Sauer G . Reagent for the enzymatic determination of serum triglycerides with improved lipolytic efficiency Clin Chem 1984 22: 165.
DeLong D, DeLong E, Wood P, Lippel K, Rifkind B . A comparison of methods for the estimation of plasma low- and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol JAMA 1986 256: 2372–2377.
The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus . Report of the expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes Care 1997 20: 1183–1197.
Willet W, Green A, Stampfer M, Speizer F, Colditz G, Rosner B, Monson R, Stason W, Hennekens C . Relative and absolute excess risks of coronary heart disease among women who smoke cigarettes New Engl J Med 1987 317: 1303–1309.
Arroyo P, Fernandez V, Avila-Rosas H . Overweight and hypertension: data from the 1992–1993 Mexican survey Hypertension 1997 30 3 Pt 2: 646–649.
Rull J, Rios J, Gómez-Pérez F, Olaiz G, Tapia R, Sepúlveda J . The impact of diabetes mellitus on public health in Mexico. In: Schwartz C, Born G (eds). New horizons in diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease Current Science: London 1995 64–74.
Pouliot M, Després J, Lemieux S, Moorjani S, Bouchard C, Tremblay A, Nadeau A, Lupien P . Waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter: best simple anthropometric indexes of abdominal visceral adipose tissue accumulation and related cardiovascular risk in men and women Am J Cardiol 1994 73: 460–468.
Després J, Lamarche B . Effect of diet and physical activity on adiposity and body fat distribution: implications for the prevention of cardiovascular disease Nutr Res Rev 1993 6: 137–159.
Pouliot M, Després J, Nadeau A, Moorjani S, Prud'homme D, Lupien P, Tremblay A, Bouchard C . Visceral obesity in men. Associations with glucose tolerance, plasma insulin, and lipoprotein levels Diabetes 1992 41: 826–834.
Després J, Moorjani S, Lupien P, Tremblay A, Nadeau A, Bouchard C . Regional distribution of body fat, plasma lipoproteins, and cardiovascular disease Arteriosclerosis 1990 10: 497–511.
Zamboni M, Armellini F, Milani M, Todesco T, De Marchi M, Robbi R, Montresor G, Bergamo A, Bosello O . Evaluation of regional body fat distribution: comparison between W/H ratio and computed tomography in obese women J Intern Med 1992 232: 341–347.
Després J, Lemieux S, Lamarche B, Prud'homme D, Moorjani S, Brun L, Gagné C, Lupien P . The insulin resistance—dyslipidemic syndrome: contribution of visceral obesity and therapeutic implications Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1995 19(Suppl 1): S76–S86.
Laakso M . How good a marker is insulin level for insulin resistance? Am J Epidemiol 1993 137: 959–965.
Pyörälä K . Relationship of glucose tolerance and plasma insulin to the incidence of coronary heart disease: results from two population studies in Finland Diabetes Care 1979 2: 131–141.
Bouchard C, Tremblay A, Després J, Nadeau A, Lupien P, Thériault G, Dussault J, Moorjani S, Pinault S, Fournier G . The response to long-term overfeeding in identical twins New Engl J Med 1990 322: 1477–1482.
Rice T, Després J, Daw E, Gagnon J, Borecki I, Pérusse L, Leon A, Skinner J, Wilmore J, Rao D, Bouchard C . Familial resemblance for abdominal visceral fat: the HERITAGE family study Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1997 21: 1024–1031.
Larson D, Hunter G, Williams M, Kekes-Szabo T, Nyikos I, Goran M . Dietary fat in relation to body fat and intraabdominal adipose tissue: a cross-sectional analysis Am J Clin Nutr 1996 64: 677–684.
Troisi R, Heinold J, Vokonas P, Weiss S . Cigarette smoking, dietary intake, and physical activity: effects on body fat distribution-the Normative Aging Study Am J Clin Nutr 1991 53: 1104–1111.
Treuth M, Hunter G, Kekes-Szabo T, Weinsier R, Goran M, Berland L . Reduction of intra-abdominal adipose tissue after strength training in older women J Appl Physiol 1995 78: 1425–1431.
Samaras K, Spector T, Nguyen T, Baan K, Campbell L, Kelly P . Smoking and oestrogen replacement are associated with low total and central fat in postmenopausal twins Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1996 20(Suppl 4): 137 (abstract).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hernández-Ono, A., Monter-Carreola, G., Zamora-González, J. et al. Association of visceral fat with coronary risk factors in a population-based sample of postmenopausal women. Int J Obes 26, 33–39 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801842
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801842
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Adipose tissue dysfunction increases fatty liver association with pre diabetes and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus
Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome (2016)
-
The physical ability of elderly female Japanese patients with cerebrovascular disease correlates with telomere length in their peripheral blood leukocytes
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research (2011)
-
Impact de l’activité physique seule ou combinée à une diète sur le syndrome métabolique chez les femmes ménopausées
Obésité (2008)
-
Effect of a weight loss intervention on anthropometric measures and metabolic risk factors in pre- versus postmenopausal women
Nutrition Journal (2007)
-
Adipose tissue distribution and risk of metabolic disease: does thiazolidinedione-induced adipose tissue redistribution provide a clue to the answer?
Diabetologia (2007)