Visceral Fat Obesity Correlates with Frailty in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Figures & data

Table 1 Comparison Between Frail and the Non-Frail Adults

		Non-Frail (n=436)	Frail (n=47)	P value
General data	Sex (Male, n (%))	259 (59.4%)	33 (70.2%)	0.147
	Age (years)	67.27±10.34	81.66±7.93	<0.001
	BMI/ (kg/m^2)	25.53±3.09	25.47±3.90	0.758
	SBP (mmHg)	135.72±17.82	136.02±19.01	0.958
	DBP (mmHg)	76.09±11.14	70.79±10.69	0.002
Obesity	WC (cm)	92.58±9.89	96.62±10.92	0.027
	WHR	0.94±0.07	0.96±0.05	0.105
	eVFA (cm^2)	123.04±45.84	154.05±50.26	0.005
	TF (kg)	20.40±5.50	20.80±6.15	0.955
CFS	CFS score	3.14±1.2	5.60±1.01	<0.001
Glucose and lipid metabolism	FBG (mmoL/L)	5.8524±1.97	6.10±2.59	0.534
	HbA1c (%)	6.32±1.30	6.66±1.46	0.007
	ALT (U/l)	19.96±11.61	21.38±20.76	0.076
	UA (μmol/L)	339.71±88.54	355.70±86.54	0.181
	TG (mmol/L)	1.74±1.31	1.38±0.68	0.015
	TC (mmol/L)	4.37±1.08	4.00±1.04	0.017
	LDL-C (mmol/L)	2.60±0.86	2.29±0.82	0.021
	HDL-C (mmol/L)	1.21±0.33	1.18±0.31	0.735
	Scr (μmoL/L)	70.85±35.90	84.47±44.92	0.016
	HCY (μmoL/L)	14.81±6.85	15.42±5.15	0.127
Chronic diseases	Hypertension (n, %)	302 (69.3%)	36 (76.6%)	0.083
	T2D (n, %)	162 (37.2%)	23 (48.9%)	0.329
	CHD (n, %)	116 (26.6%)	28 (59.6%)	<0.001

Notes: Data were expressed as mean (standard deviation), median (interquartile range) or n (%).

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; WC, waist circumference; WHR, waist-to-hip ratio; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; eVFA, estimated visceral fat area; TF, total fat; CFS, Clinical Frailty Scale; FBG, fasting blood glucose; HbA1c, glycosylated hemoglobin, Type A1C; ALT, alanine transaminase; UA, uric acid; TG, triglyceride; TC, total cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein cholesterol; Scr, serum creatinine; HCY, homocysteine; T2D, type 2 diabetes; CHD, coronary heart disease.

Table 2 Logistic Regression Analysis of Factors Associated with Frailty

	Crude OR (95% CI)	Adjusted OR* (95% CI)
WC	0.961 (0.929–0.995)	0.996 (0.984–1.007)
eVFA	0.989 (0.981–0.997)	0.982 (0.969–0.996)

Notes: *Adjusted for sex, age, coronary heart disease, diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin Type A1C, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and serum creatinine.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; WC, waist circumference; eVFA, estimated visceral fat area.

Table 3 Correlation Between Frailty and eVFA, BMI and WHR

	Male			Female
	r	P value	Adjusted P value*	r	P value	Adjusted P value*
eVFA	−0.010	0.882	0.693	0.208	0.013	0.026
BMI	−0.134	0.022	0.787	0.202	0.005	0.057
WHR	−0.019	0.813	0.891	0.179	0.069	0.118

Note: *Adjusted by age.

Abbreviations: eVFA, estimated visceral fat area; BMI, body mass index; WHR, waist-to-hip ratio.

Figure 1 Correlation between frailty and eVFA, BMI and WHR. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between frailty phenotype score and (A) eVFA, (B) BMI, (C) WHR in women (middle-aged and older adults), (D) eVFA in older adults (men and women).

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; WHR, waist-to-hip ratio; eVFA, estimated visceral fat area.

Table 4 Correlation Between eVFA/TF and Other Variables

	Male		Female
	r	P value	r	P value
All adults
Grip strength	−0.559	<0.001	−0.307	<0.001
Walking speed	−0.325	<0.001	−0.200	0.026
CFS	0.335	<0.001	0.284	0.001
Older adults
Grip strength	−0.348	<0.001	−0.148	0.188
Walking speed	−0.230	0.027	−0.067	0.559
CFS	0.267	<0.001	0.178	0.114
Middle-aged adults
Grip strength	−0.472	<0.001	−0.265	0.051
Walking speed	−0.153	0.184	−0.112	0.457
CFS	0.091	0.417	0.369	0.011

Abbreviations: eVFA, estimated visceral fat area; TF, total fat; CFS, Clinical Frailty Scale.