Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of age, ethnicity, and sex on the body fat percentage (BF%) threshold, the point above which visceral adipose tissue (VAT) increases more rapidly. Participants were 1,756 females and 1,455 males, 18-75 years of age, who had a dual X-ray absorptiometry scan. Using segmented linear regression models for each sex and ethnicity category, the BF% thresholds were identified. The BF% thresholds for females were: Asian 29.2%, Black 35.6%, Hispanic 31.7%, and White 34.2%. For males, they were: Asian 25.3%, Black 23.9%, Hispanic 24.3%, and White 22.8%. Post-threshold, the impact of BF% was amplified for older females (β = 0.28, SE =0.03, p < .001) and males (β = 0.81, SE = 0.06, p < .001). BF% had a weaker association with VAT mass for Black compared to White females (β = -3.05, SE = 1.44, p < .05) and Asian compared to White males (β = -11.40, SE = 2.30, p < .001). The BF% threshold was higher in females and varied more with ethnicity in females. Post-threshold the association of BF% with VAT differed by age and ethnicity, although the influence of ethnicity was different in females than males.
Highlights
Adult obesity is defined as having a body mass index equal to or greater than 30 kg/m2 [1]
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of age, ethnicity, and sex on the body fat percentage (BF%) threshold, the point above which visceral adipose tissue (VAT) increases more rapidly
dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is an attractive method for measuring VAT because of the lower radiation emission, quick measurement, and lower cost compared to computerized topography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Summary
Adult obesity is defined as having a body mass index equal to or greater than 30 kg/m2 [1]. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT), the fat that surrounds internal organs in the abdominal (android) area, is positively correlated with cardiometabolic risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance [5, 6]. The only methods for measuring VAT were computerized topography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Having recently been validated against CT scans and MRI’s, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is considered a valid method for measuring VAT [7,8,9]. DXA is an attractive method for measuring VAT because of the lower radiation emission, quick measurement, and lower cost compared to CT and MRI
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