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Fat accumulation linked with atherosclerotic burden
2 September 2010
MedWire News: General obesity, and specifically the accumulation of fat around the abdomen, is linked with systemic atherosclerotic burden, South Korean research suggests.
The study found that general and abdominal obesity and abdominal visceral fat accumulation was associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC) in Korean men at relatively low risk for coronary artery disease.
The highest 25% of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) levels was associated with moderate-to-severe CAC, even after adjusting for risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
The findings come from 1336 Korean men, with a mean age of 59 years, who were free of cardiovascular disease and underwent CAC scoring and abdominal computed tomography as part of a routine medical examination.
The men had a relatively low risk for coronary heart disease, with nine in 10 having a Framingham risk score of less than 10%.
Mean BMI, waist circumference, and VAT area measured at the level of the umbilicus using computed tomography were higher in individuals with moderate-to-severe CAC, defined as an Agatston score of more than 100, compared with those who had lower scores.
Participants in the highest quartile of BMI, in excess of 26.1 kg/m2, had an odds ratio for moderate-to-severe CAC of 1.56 compared with those whose BMI was lower than this, after adjusting for age and cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The same was true for men with a waist circumference greater than 93.3 cm, and those with a VAT area above 173 cm2, for whom the corresponding odd ratios were 1.56 and 1.42, compared with individuals in the lower three quartiles.
Reporting in the journal Atherosclerosis, Byung-Hee Oh (Seoul National University College of Medicine) and colleagues say they are not proposing that obesity is a direct cause of CAC.
“Nevertheless, anthropometric measurements should be measured to evaluate the risk of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in asymptomatic and low-risk Korean men as a potential means of modifying risk prediction and altering therapeutic lifestyle change,” they conclude.
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