Association between abdominal wall fat index on ultrasonography and carotid atherosclerosis in non-obese men.

Abstract

We tried to investigate whether accumulation of visceral fat, assessed by a simple but widely used ultrasonographic method, was associated with common carotid atherosclerosis in non-obese men ranging from 16 to 79 years old. The subjects were consecutive 297 male in-patients whose body mass index ranged from 18.5 kg/m(2) to 25 kg/m(2). An ultrasonographic evaluation using a 7.5 MHz linear type B-mode probe was performed by a specialist to determine the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the common carotid artery and the maximal thickness of peritoneal fat (Pmax) at the anterior surface of the liver and the minimal thickness of subcutaneous fat (Smin) of the abdomen. The Pmax/Smin ratio, which was termed the abdominal wall fat index (AFI), was then calculated. The mean age +/- standard deviation in this series was 65 +/- 13 (range, 15-79) years. Multiple regression analysis using IMT as an objective variable, adjusted by various risk factors as explanatory variables, showed that AFI [beta, 0.0538; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.0116-0.0960] was a significant independent contributing factor along with known risk factors such as age, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. We found that AFI was useful in evaluating disorders of metabolism and atherosclerosis in non-obese men.