Visceral adipose tissue is associated with microstructural brain tissue damage

Abstract

Objective Obesity has been associated with microstructural brain tissue damage. Different fat compartments demonstrate different metabolic and endocrine behaviors. The aim was to investigate the individual associations between abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and microstructural integrity in the brain. Methods This study comprised 243 subjects aged 65.4-±-6.7 years. The associations between abdominal VAT and SAT, assessed by CT, and magnetization transfer imaging markers of brain microstructure for gray and white matter were analyzed and adjusted for confounding factors. Results VAT was associated with normalized MTR peak height in gray (β -0.216) and white matter (β -0.240) (both P- -0.05). Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that only VAT was associated with normalized MTR peak height in gray and white matter (both P-