Less Waste on Waist Measurements: Determination of Optimal Waist Circumference Measurement Site to Predict Visceral Adipose Tissue in Postmenopausal Women with Obesity.

Radhika Seimon,Nuala Byrne,Stuart Grieve,Nathan Johnson,Ian Caterson,Alice Gibson,Claudia Harper,Michelle Hsu,Sally Mcclintock,Felipe Da Luz,Hamish Fernando,Anthony Wild-Taylor,Tania Markovic,Shelley Keating,Amanda Sainsbury

doi:10.3390/nu10020239

Radhika Seimon, Nuala Byrne + Show 13 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020239

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With obesity being a leading cause of preventable death, it is vital to understand how best to identify individuals with greater risk of metabolic disease, especially those with high visceral adipose tissue (VAT). This study aimed to determine whether three commonly used waist circumference (WC) measurement sites could provide accurate estimations of VAT, as determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is a gold standard for measuring VAT, in postmenopausal women with obesity. VAT volume was measured by MRI of the total abdomen in 97 women aged 57.7 ± 0.4 years (mean ± SEM), mean body mass index 34.5 ± 0.2 kg/m2. WC was measured at the midpoint between the lowest rib and the iliac crest (WCmid), the narrowest point of the torso (WCnarrow), and at the level of the umbilicus (WCumbilicus). WC differed significantly according to measurement site, with WCnarrow (102.1 ± 0.7 cm) < WCmid (108.3 ± 0.7 cm) < WCumbilicus (115.7 ± 0.8 cm) (p < 0.001). WCmid, WCnarrow and WCumbilicus were all significantly correlated with VAT, as measured by MRI (r = 0.581, 0.563 and 0.390, respectively; p < 0.001 for all), but the relationships between WCmid or WCnarrow and VAT determined by MRI were stronger than for WCumbilicus. Measurement of either WCmid or WCnarrow provides valid estimates of VAT in postmenopausal women with obesity, with WCnarrow being favoured in light of its greater ease and speed of measurement in this population.

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Obesity, which can be defined as an excess of body fat, is an ever-growing public health crisis related to the development of many disturbances, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1,2]
Our study investigated the correlation between visceral adipose tissue (VAT), as quantified by the gold standard method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and all three of the most common waist circumference (WC) measurement sites [26], namely WCmid, WCnarrow and WCumbilicus
Our results indicate that WCmid and WCnarrow are the most appropriate WC measurement sites for the estimation of VAT by MRI in postmenopausal women with obesity

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Introduction

Obesity, which can be defined as an excess of body fat, is an ever-growing public health crisis related to the development of many disturbances, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1,2]. An accurate measure of VAT requires the use of gold-standard imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [9]. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is an alternative method for estimating VAT [11] that has been shown to correlate strongly with VAT measured using CT [12,13,14,15,16] and MRI [17,18]. DXA delivers a minimal radiation dose and is less costly and time-consuming than CT or MRI for measuring VAT [19]. DXA too requires expensive equipment and trained technicians [19]

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