J Prev Med Public Health.  2020 Jul;53(4):256-265. 10.3961/jpmph.20.140.

Comparison of Computed Tomography-based Abdominal Adiposity Indexes as Predictors of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Among Middle-aged Korean Men and Women

• Baek J
• Jung SJ
• Shim JS
• Jeon YW
• Seo E
• Kim HC

• KMID: 2504841
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.20.140

Abstract

Objectives
We compared the associations of 3 computed tomography (CT)-based abdominal adiposity indexes with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among middle-aged Korean men and women.
Methods
The participants were 1366 men and 2480 women community-dwellers aged 30-64 years. Three abdominal adiposity indexes—visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), and visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio (VSR)—were calculated from abdominal CT scans. NAFLD was determined by calculating the Liver Fat Score from comorbidities and blood tests. An NAFLD prediction model that included waist circumference (WC) as a measure of abdominal adiposity was designated as the base model, to which VFA, SFA, and VSR were added in turn. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were calculated to quantify the additional predictive value of VFA, SFA, and VSR relative to WC.
Results
VFA and VSR were positively associated with NAFLD in both genders. SFA was not significantly associated with NAFLD in men, but it was negatively associated in women. When VFA, SFA, and VSR were added to the WC-based NAFLD prediction model, the AUC improved by 0.013 (p<0.001), 0.001 (p=0.434), and 0.009 (p=0.007) in men and by 0.044 (p<0.001), 0.017 (p<0.001), and 0.046 (p<0.001) in women, respectively. The IDI and NRI were increased the most by VFA in men and VSR in women.
Conclusions
Using CT-based abdominal adiposity indexes in addition to WC may improve the detection of NAFLD. The best predictive indicators were VFA in men and VSR in women.

Keyword

Abdominal fat; Visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio; Intra-abdominal fat; Subcutaneous fat; Fatty liver; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease