Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

The optimal anatomic site for a single slice to estimate the total volume of visceral adipose tissue by using the quantitative computed tomography (QCT) in Chinese population

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 1567–1575 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

To investigate the relationship between the cross-sectional visceral adipose tissue (VAT) areas at different anatomic sites and the total VAT volume in a healthy Chinese population using quantitative computed tomography (QCT), and to identify the optimal anatomic site for a single slice to estimate the total VAT volume.

Subjects/methods

A total of 389 healthy Chinese subjects aged 19–63 years underwent lumbar spine QCT scans. The cross-sectional area of total adipose tissue and VAT were measured using the tissue composition module of the software (QCT Pro, Mindways) at each intervertebral disc level from T12/L1 to L5/S1, as well as at the umbilical level. The total VAT volume was defined as the fat areas multiplied by the height of vertebral body for all six slices. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the correlation between single-slice VAT areas and the total VAT volume. Moreover, the optimal anatomic site for a single slice to estimate the total VAT volume was identified by multiple regression analysis.

Results

The cross-sectional area of VAT and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) measured at each anatomic site was all highly correlated with the total VAT volume and the total SAT volume (r = 0.89–0.98). Additionally, the VAT area measured at the L2/L3 level showed the strongest correlation with the total VAT volume (r = 0.98, P < 0.001). Covariates including age, gender, BMI, waist, and hypertension make a slight effect on the prediction of the total VAT volume.

Conclusion

It is feasible to perform measurements of VAT area on a single slice at L2/L3 level for estimating the total VAT volume.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Tchernof A, Després J-P. Pathophysiology of human visceral obesity: an update. Physiol Rev. 2013;93:359–404.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Irlbeck T, Massaro J, Bamberg F, O’Donnell C, Hoffmann U, Fox C. Association between single-slice measurements of visceral and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue with volumetric measurements: the Framingham Heart Study. Int J Obes. 2010;34:781–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wang F, Wu S, Song Y, Tang X, Marshall R, Liang M, et al. Waist circumference, body mass index and waist to hip ratio for prediction of the metabolic syndrome in Chinese. Nutr Metab Cardiovas. 2009;19:542–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Shen W, Punyanitya M, Wang Z, Gallagher D, St-Onge MP, Albu J, et al. Visceral adipose tissue: relations between single-slice areas and total volume. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;80:271–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Oda E. New criteria for ‘obesity disease’ in Japan. Circ J. 2006;70:150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sottier D, petit JM, Guiu S, Hamza S, Benhanmiche H, Hillon P, et al. Quantification of the visceral and subcutaneous fat by computed tomography: interobserver correlation of a single slice technique. Diagn Interv Imaging. 2013;94:879–84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang L, Wang W, Xu L, Cheng X, Ma Y, Liu D, et al. Relation of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue to bone mineral density in Chinese women. Int J Endocrinol. 2013;2013:378632.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Kuk J, Church T, Blair SN, Ross R. Does measurement site for visceral and abdominal subcutaneousadipos tissue alter association with the metabolic syndrome? Diabetes Care. 2006;29:679–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Maislin G, Ahmed MM, Gooneratne N, Thorne-Fitzgerald M, Kim C, Teff K, et al. Single slice vs. volumetric mr assessment of visceral adipose tissue—reliability and validity among the overweight and obese. Obesity. 2012;20:2124–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Nazare JA, Smith JD, Borel AL, Haffner SM, Balkau B, Ross R, et al. Ethnic influences on the relations between abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adiposity, liver fat, and cardiometabolic risk profile: the International Study of Prediction of Intra-Abdominal Adiposity and Its Relationship With Cardiometabolic Risk/Intra-Abdominal Adiposity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;96:714–26.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Udupa JK, LeBlanc VR, Zhuge Y, Imielinska C, Schmidt H, Currie LM, et al. A framework for evaluating image segmentation algorithms. Comput Med Imaging Graph. 2006;30:75–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Steiger JH. Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. Psychol Bull. 1980;87:245–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Ryo M, Kishida K, Nakamura T, Yoshizumi T, Funahashi T, Shimomura I. Clinical significance of visceral adiposity assessed by computed tomography: a Japanese perspective. World J Radiol. 2014;6:409–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Jia WP, Lu JX, Xiang KS, Bao YQ, Lu HJ, Chen L. Prediction of abdominal visceral obesity from body mass index, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio in Chinese adults: receiver operating characteristic curves analysis. Biomed Environ Sci. 2003;16:206–11.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Demerath EW, Shen W, Lee M, Choh AC, Czerwinski SA, Siervogel RM, et al. Approximation of total visceral adipose tissue with a single magnetic resonance image. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;85:362–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Schweitzer L, Geisler C, Pourhassan M, Braun W, Glüer CC, Bosy-Westphal A, et al. What is the best reference site for a single MRI slice to assess whole-body skeletal muscle and adipose tissue volumes in healthy adults? Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102:58–65.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Tong Y, Udupa JK, Torigian DA. Optimization of abdominal fat quantification on CT imaging through use of standardized anatomic space: a novel approach. Med Phys. 2014;41:063501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Udupa JK, Odhner D, Zao L, Tong Y, Matsumoto MMS, Ciesielski KC, et al. Body-wide hierarchical fuzzy modeling, recognition, and delineation of anatomy in medical images. Med Image Anal. 2014;18:752–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The foundation from the National Natural Science Found of China (No. 81401407), Beijing Bureau of Health 215 Program (No. 2009-2-03) and Capital Health Development Research Program (No. 2014-2-1122).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China

    X Cheng, Y Zhang, L Wang, Y Duanmu, K Li, D Yan & L Xu

  2. Clinical Research and Bioinformatics Center, Beijing Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, Beijing, China

    C Wang

  3. Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China

    W Deng

  4. Department of Molecular Orthopaedics, Beijing Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, Beijing, China

    C Wu

  5. Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Nutrition, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, USA

    W Shen

  6. Department of Spine Surgery, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China

    W Tian

Authors
  1. X Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Y Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. W Deng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. L Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Y Duanmu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. K Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. D Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. L Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. C Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. W Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. W Tian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to W Tian.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheng, X., Zhang, Y., Wang, C. et al. The optimal anatomic site for a single slice to estimate the total volume of visceral adipose tissue by using the quantitative computed tomography (QCT) in Chinese population. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 1567–1575 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0122-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0122-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links