ROC analysis of subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top) in female coronary heart disease patients and healthy controls

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top) is different in female CHD patients (n=26) and healthy controls (n=36) matched to age, body size, weight, and BMI. The thicknesses of SAT layers were measured by LIPOMETER at 15 specified body sites. To calculate the power of the different body sites to discriminate between CHD women and healthy controls, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed. For each parameter, sensitivity and specificity were calculated at different cutoff points. CHD women showed a significant decrease to 78.36% (p=0.012) at body site 11-front thigh, 73.10% (p=0.012) at 12-lateral thigh, 72.20% (p=0.009) at 13-rear thigh, 66.43% (p<0.001) at 14-inner thigh, and 49.19% (p<0.001) at 15-calf. The best discriminators analysed by ROC curves between female CHD patients and healthy controls turned out to be calf and inner thigh (optimal cut off values: calf: 3.85 mm and inner thigh: 11.15 mm). Stepwise discriminant analysis identified the body sites calf, lateral chest, and inner thigh as significant. In conclusion, information was obtained on the extent to which SAT thickness at each measured body site is able to discriminate between the two subject groups. The good discrimination results obtained for the present dataset are encouraging enough to recommend applying LIPOMETER SAT-Top measurements in further studies to investigate individual risks for CHD.