BACKGROUND:
Increased
abdominal obesity is clearly associated with
metabolic diseases and associated with increased
risk for
atherosclerosis and
cardiovascular diseases. But the mechanisms underlying these
associations are not completely understood. The aim of this study was to correlate the regional
body composition with
pulse wave velocity in the
overweight and obese
women.
METHODS:
We investigated 104
overweight and obese participants. Regional
body composition was distinguished by
anthropometry,
dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, and computed
tomography (CT). For estimates of
arterial stiffness, we measured brachial
ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV).
Fasting blood glucose,
lipid parameters, CRP, and
free fatty acid were measured. Pearson's correlation
analysis and multiple
regression analysis were conducted to identify the relationship between baPWV and regional
body composition.
RESULTS:
Average age,
fasting blood sugar, HDL-
cholesterol,
triglyceride, HOMA-IR,
abdominal visceral fat area measured by CT,
visceral fat area/
subcutaneous fat area (VSR), and
visceral fat area/midthigh
muscle area (VMR) were all significantly higher in the
visceral obesity group than the subcutaneous
obesity group. BaPWV was positively correlated with age,
blood pressure,
triglyceride,
waist circumference,
waist hip ratio,
abdominal visceral fat area measured by CT, and VSR and inversely correlated with
thigh subcutaneous fat area. In multiple regression models, after
adjustment for confounding factors, baPWV was independently correlated with
abdominal visceral fat area measured by CT (R2=0.560, P=0.006).
CONCLUSION:
Abdominal visceral fat area measured by CT was the only measurement positively associated with baPWV which explains the relationship of regional
body composition and
arterial stiffness.