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(Hypertension. 2001;38:713.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Obesity- and Diabetes-Related Hypertension

Ultrasonography for the Evaluation of Visceral Fat and Cardiovascular Risk

Fernando F. Ribeiro-Filho; Alessandra N. Faria; Oswaldo Kohlmann, Jr; Sérgio Ajzen; Artur B. Ribeiro; Maria Teresa Zanella; Sandra R.G. Ferreira

From the Divisions of Endocrinology (F.F.R.-F., A.N.F., M.T.Z.) and Nephrology (O.K., A.B.R.) and the Departments of Radiology (S.A.) and Preventive Medicine (S.R.G.F.), Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Correspondence to Dr Fernando F Ribeiro Filho, Rua Machado Bittencourt, 300/112, São Paulo, SP Brazil 04044-000. E-mail fflexa{at}uol.com.br

Abstract

Abstract— —Visceral fat accumulation is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Clinical evaluation of visceral fat is limited because of the lack of reliable and low-cost methods. To assess the correlation between ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT) for the evaluation of visceral fat, 101 obese women, age 50.5±7.7 years with a body mass index of 39.2±5.4 kg/m², were submitted to ultrasonograph and CT scans. Visceral fat measured by ultrasonography, 1 cm above the umbilical knot, showed a high correlation with CT-determined visceral fat (r=0.67, P<0.0001). The ultrasonograph method showed good reproducibility with an intra-observer variation coefficient of <2%. Both ultrasonograph and CT visceral fat values were correlated with fasting insulin (r=0.29 and r=0.27, P<0.01) and plasma glucose 2 hours after oral glucose load (r=0.22 and r=0.34, P<0.05), indicating that ultrasonography is a useful method to evaluate cardiovascular risk. A significant correlation was also found between visceral fat by CT and serum sodium (r=0.18, P<0.05). A ultrasonograph-determined visceral-to-subcutaneous fat ratio of 2.50 was established as a cutoff value to define patients with abdominal visceral obesity. This value also identified patients with higher levels of plasma glucose, serum insulin and triglycerides and lower levels of HDL-cholesterol, which are metabolic abnormalities characteristic of the metabolic syndrome. Our data demonstrate that ultrasonography is a precise and reliable method for evaluation of visceral fat and identification of patients with adverse metabolic profile.

Key Words: obesity • ultrasonography • computed tomography • metabolism • cardiovascular diseases

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