Objective: To compare the values of measurements of obesity, including body mass index(BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), bioelectrical impedance analyzer(BIA) (fat mass and FAT%), ultrasonography (US) (subcutaneous fat distance and intraabdominal fat distance), and computed tomography (CT) in predicting the quantification of visceral adipose in abdominal obesity, and to evaluate the best cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity of these methods.
Methods: 4,301 inpatients with hypertension, 2,155 males and 2,146 females, aged (56.4 +/- 13.8) (11 - 89), all with at least 1 risk factor of cardiovascular diseases, underwent simple body fat measurement. 3458 received BIA, 2,553 received B mode ultrasonography, 1039 underwent CT examination, and 659 received all kinds of examination. Abdominal visceral adipose area (VA) measured with CT >or= 100 cm(2) was the diagnostic criteria of visceral fat obesity (VFO). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the body fat indexes to determine the best cut-off point.
Results: (1) It was accurate for WC, fat mass, BMI, intraabdominal fat distance, FAT%, and WHR were all accurate in diagnosis of VFO with the values of area under ROC of 0.730 - 0.867. WC was the most effective measurement. (2) The best cut-off points of these methods in predicting abdominal visceral obesity in males and females were as follows: WC: 89.5 cm and 85.5 cm for WC. 25 kg/m(2) and 26 kg/m(2) for BMI, 0.97 and 0.95 for WHR, 29% and 38% for fat composition, 18.6 kg, and 20.4 kg for fat mass, and 38.5 mm and 34.7 mm for intraabdominal fat distance.
Conclusions: WC, fat mass, BMI, intraabdominal fat distance, simple fat parameters, and WHR all can predict visceral adipose in abdominal obesity, in which WC is the best. For a given WC, the type of obesity can be determined by BIA and US.