Endocrine Abstracts

Although obesity is a powerful risk factor for developing metabolic syndrome (MetS), it is not present in all obese individuals. Increased visceral adipose tissue is the hallmark of this syndrome. In this cross sectional survey abdominal bioelectrical impedence was used to measure the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and trunk fat percentages (TF%) in participants. A total of 286 patients (196 female and 90 males) were enrolled in the study. In both sexes VAT was significantly positively correlated with body mass index, waist circumference, TF%, HOMA IR, fat percentage, fasting plasma glucose and triglycerides. Strongest correlations were between VAT and TF%, VAT and device measured waist circumference and between VAT and manual waist circumference (r=0.95, r=0,94, r=0.92 respectively in female and r=0.99, r=0,93, r=0.94 respectively in male participants). The mean VAT and TF% in MetS(+) groups were significantly higher than patients in MetS(−) groups in both sexes. The areas under the ROC curves were 0.730 (95% CI: 0.661–0.791) for female VAT and 0.702 (95% CI: 0.654–0.749) for male VAT in predicting MetS. We suggest that using such a device in clinical practice is an alternative technique for examining and follow up of patients with MetS.

Sensitivity and spesificity of VAT for predicting MetS at certain cut off values in male and female

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.