Increased risk of subclinical atherosclerosis associated with high visceral adiposity index in apparently healthy Korean adults: the Kangbuk Samsung Health Study

Figures & data

Table 1. General characteristics of all participants and comparisons among groups with tertiles of VAI.

N = 33,468	All	1st tertile of VAI	2nd tertile of VAI	3rd tertile of VAI	p value withone-way ANOVA
Age (years)	41.5 ± 7.6	40.8 ± 7.8	41.8 ± 7.7	41.9 ± 7.3	<0.001
Sex: men (%)	26,836 (80.2)	8,200 (73.5)	8,989 (80.6)	9,647 (86.5)	<0.001
BMI (kg/m^2)	24.3 ± 3.2	22.7 ± 2.7	24.4 ± 2.9	25.8 ± 3.0	<0.001
SBP (mmHg)	113.5 ± 12.9	110.2 ± 12.6	113.5 ± 12.7	116.8 ± 12.6	<0.001
DBP (mmHg)	73.6 ± 10.1	70.8 ± 9.6	73.7 ± 10.0	76.3 ± 9.9	<0.001
Waist circumference (cm)	85.1 ± 8.7	80.3 ± 7.8	85.5 ± 7.8	89.5 ± 7.8	<0.001
FBS (mg/dL)	98.8 ± 16.8	94.9 ± 12.0	98.7 ± 15.2	102.8 ± 21.1	<0.001
HbA1c (%)	5.7 ± 0.5	5.6 ± 0.4	5.7 ± 0.5	5.8 ± 0.7	<0.001
Fasting insulin (μIU/mL)	6.3 ± 6.8	4.4 ± 9.6	6.1 ± 3.6	8.3 ± 4.9	<0.001
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)	202.5 ± 35.6	192.8 ± 32.6	202.7 ± 34.3	211.9 ± 37.3	<0.001
Triglyceride (mg/dL)	136.8 ± 91.7	71.3 ± 19.9	116.6 ± 26.1	222.6 ± 110.1	<0.001
LDL-C (mg/dL)	129.1 ± 32.4	117.2 ± 29.6	132.8 ± 31.1	137.2 ± 33.1	<0.001
HDL-C (mg/dL)	53.8 ± 13.6	65.3 ± 12.7	53.0 ± 9.2	43.2 ± 7.8	<0.001
CACS	11.2 ± 72.0	8.5 ± 64.2	10.7 ± 70.6	14.4 ± 80.2	<0.001
ln(CACS +1)	0.47 ± 1.26	0.34 ± 1.10	0.46 ± 1.25	0.60 ± 1.40	<0.001
VAI	1.73 ± 1.58	0.67 ± 0.18	1.33 ± 0.23	3.19 ± 1.99	<0.001
Smoking (%)	9,194 (27.5)	2,112 (18.9)	2,941 (26.4)	4,141 (37.1)	<0.001
Diabetes (%)	2,011 (6.0)	347 (3.1)	601 (5.4)	1,063 (9.5)	<0.001
Alcohol drinking (%)	5,792 (17.3)	1,747 (15.7)	1,856 (16.6)	2,189 (19.6)	<0.001
Physical activity (%)	6,366 (19.0)	2,475 (22.2)	2,116 (19.0)	1,775 (15.9)	<0.001

Values are presented as mean ± standard deviation or n (%).

VAI: visceral adiposity index; ANOVA: analysis of variance; BMI: body mass index; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; FBS: fasting blood sugar; HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin; LDL-C: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; CACS: coronary artery calcium score; ln(CACS +1): natural logarithmic transformation of coronary artery calcium score plus 1.

Table 2. Bivariate correlations between metabolic parameters and visceral adiposity index.

	r	p value
Age	0.031	<0.001
BMI	0.315	<0.001
Systolic blood pressure	0.180	<0.001
Diastolic blood pressure	0.186	<0.001
Waist circumference	0.331	<0.001
Fasting blood glucose	0.196	<0.001
HbA1c	0.168	<0.001
Fasting insulin	0.219	<0.001
Total cholesterol	0.221	<0.001
Triglyceride	0.942	<0.001
LDL-C	0.08	<0.001
HDL-C	−0.550	<0.001
Coronary artery calcium score	0.027	<0.001
ln(CACS +1)	0.070	<0.001

BMI: body mass index; HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin; LDL-C: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; ln(CACS +1): natural logarithmic transformation of coronary artery calcium score plus 1.

Figure 1. Comparison of mean visceral adiposity index between subjects divided by coronary artery calcium score severity.

Figure 2. Comparison of the proportion of subjects with coronary artery calcium score >0 according to tertiles of visceral adiposity index.

Table 3. Comparison of metabolic parameters according to presence/absence of coronary artery calcification.

N = 33,468	CACS =0(n = 28,470, 85.1%)	0 < CACS <100(n = 4,116, 12.3%)	CACS ≥100(n = 882, 2.6%)	p value
Age (years)	40.4 ± 6.96	46.8 ± 8.0	52.1 ± 9.6	<0.001
Sex: men (%)	22,304 (78.3)	3,755 (91.2)	798 (90.5)	<0.001
BMI (kg/m^2)	24.2 ± 3.2	25.1 ± 3.0^a	25.3 ± 3.1^a	<0.001
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	112.8 ± 12.7	117.3 ± 13.0	119.9 ± 13.5	<0.001
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	73.0 ± 10.0	77.1 ± 10.1	77.9 ± 10.5	<0.001
Waist circumference (cm)	84.7 ± 8.7	87.5 ± 8.0	88.3 ± 8.1	<0.001
Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL)	97.7 ± 15.0	104.2 ± 22.8	109.1 ± 28.3	<0.001
HbA1c (%)	5.68 ± 0.5	5.90 ± 0.7	6.07 ± 0.9	<0.001
Fasting insulin (μIU/mL)	6.2 ± 7.1	6.7 ± 4.3^a	7.0 ± 4.8^a	<0.001
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)	201.0 ± 34.8	211.3 ± 39.2	207.5 ± 39.7	<0.001
Triglyceride (mg/dL)	132.9 ± 87.4	158.4 ± 112.9^a	161.1 ± 100.7^a	<0.001
LDL-C (mg/dL)	127.8 ± 31.8	137.2 ± 34.6	133.0 ± 36.1	<0.001
HDL-C (mg/dL)	54.3 ± 13.6	51.3 ± 12.7^a	51.6 ± 13.4^a	<0.001
Visceral adiposity index	1.68 ± 1.50	2.04 ± 1.97^a	2.08 ± 1.67^a	<0.001
Smoking (%)	7,596 (26.7)	1,338 (32.5)	270 (30.6)	<0.001
Diabetes (%)	1231 (4.3)	585 (14.2)	200 (22.7)	<0.001
Alcohol drinking (%)	4621 (16.2)	965 (23.4)	211 (23.9)	<0.001
Physical activity (%)	5,344 (18.8)	831 (20.2)	195 (22.1)	0.013

BMI: body mass index; HbA1c: glycated hemoglobin; LDL-C: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

^a No differences between the two groups by post-hoc analysis.

Table 4. Odds ratios (95% CI) for coronary artery calcification according to tertiles of visceral adiposity index.

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for CACS >0
VAI <0.967	1 (Ref)	1 (Ref)	1 (Ref)
0.967 ≤VAI ≤1.777	1.33 (1.216∼1.447)	1.17 (1.065∼1.273)	1.10 (1.006∼1.205)
VAI >1.777	1.81 (1.669∼1.972)	1.39 (1.267∼1.517)	1.26 (1.147∼1.381)
Odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for CACS >100
VAI <0.967	1 (Ref)	1 (Ref)	1 (Ref)
0.967 ≤VAI ≤1.777	1.14 (0.938∼1.377)	1.01 (0.830∼1.225)	0.93 (0.765∼1.136)
VAI >1.777	1.80 (1.502∼2.149)	1.37 (1.135∼1.655)	1.20 (0.983∼1.549)

Model 1: adjusted for age and sex.

Model 2: adjusted for age, sex, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin.

Model 3: adjusted for age, sex, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, smoking, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and BMI.

CI: confidence interval; VAI: visceral adiposity index; HDL-C: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; BMI: body mass index.