Evaluation of intra-abdominal fat in obese adolescents using computerized tomography

Abstract

Objective To assess the association of anthropometric measurements of obesity and body composition with total and regional abdominal fat areas as determined by computed tomography (CT). Methods This is a cross-sectional study including 33 obese adolescents (BMI>95th percentile) and 20 healthy individuals as a control group (BMI<85th percentile), belonging to both sexes, aged between 12 and 18 years. Anthropometric assessment (including BMI, waist and hip circumferences, and waist/hip ratio), body composition, and CT assessment of total abdominal, subcutaneous, and visceral fat areas (VFA) was carried out for all participants. Results The distribution of abdominal fat estimated by CT was insignificantly different by sex; girls had more fat in total abdominal and subcutaneous areas, whereas boys had more fat in the visceral area. Using the cutoff point of 100 cm2 of the VFA estimated by CT, it was found that 85% of the control group had no visceral obesity, whereas 66.7% of the obese group had visceral obesity. Waist and hip circumferences had strong correlations with total abdominal and subcutaneous fat areas for both sexes and groups and with VFA in obese boys and control girls only. Conclusion Visceral obesity is detected even within the normal range of BMI. Waist and hip circumferences and body composition analysis could predict subcutaneous and total abdominal fat areas accurately compared with abdominal CT, but not the visceral fat estimated by CT to screen for those at risk for cardiometabolic complications regardless of obesity.