July 29, 2010 Abdominal Obesity/Body Fat Distribution, Cardiovascular Disease, News

Relation between visceral fat and coronary artery disease evaluated by multidetector computed tomography. Atherosclerosis 2010;209:481-6

Marques MD, Santos RD, Parga JR, Rocha-Filho JA, Quaglia LA, Miname MH, Avila LF.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether computed tomography (CT) adiposity measurements such as intra-abdominal (visceral) adipose tissue, subcutaneous adipose tissue and hepatic fat, are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) assessed by cardiac CT. Therefore, 125 consecutive subjects (57% men, age 56.0±12 years) referred to CT angiography were evaluated in this study. No association was found between waist and hip circumferences or body mass index with CAD. In a multivariate analysis, only intra-abdominal (visceral) fat (measured at T12-L1) and age were independent predictors of CAD. It was also found that the presence of metabolic syndrome identified by the International Diabetes Federation clinical criteria was associated with the presence of coronary artery calcification. These results support the notion that intra-abdominal fat, assessed by CT, is an independent marker of CAD.

Pubmed article