ArticleLipids in health and disease2025
Association between visceral fat area and metabolic syndrome in individuals with normal body weight: insights from a Chinese health screening dataset.
Article in Lipids in health and disease, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Associations between skeletal muscle parameters and metabolic markers in metabolic syndrome: an exploratory cross-sectional study using photon-counting computed tomography.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2026Article
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass promotes white adipose tissue browning and systemic metabolic recovery in obese type 2 diabetic mice.BMC endocrine disorders · 2026Article
- Ten-year cardiometabolic progression and health-related quality of life in individuals with isolated abdominal obesity.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Muscle Mass Moderates Metabolic Syndrome Risk Associated with Adiposity: A SHAP-Based Machine Learning Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Adipose tissue distribution in metabolic disease: depot-specific biology, clinical assessment, and therapeutic remodeling.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
- Dose-response association between metabolic syndrome component count and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease, and independent graded association of visceral fat area: a cross-sectional study in a health-checkup population.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Association between the metabolic score for insulin resistance trajectory and new-onset metabolic syndrome: a retrospective cohort study based on health check-up data in China.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Article
- Association between visceral fat area and heart rate variability in high altitude migrants with OSA: the mediating effect of insulin resistance.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Body roundness index and its role in predicting COPD risk: insights from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging and the health and retirement study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Visceral fat: the hidden culprit behind thoracolumbar surgery infections.Frontiers in surgery · 2025Article
- The evolving concepts in visceral obesity: What anesthesiologists need to know.Saudi journal of anaesthesiaReview
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17 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is increasingly diagnosed in individuals with normal body weight, and visceral fat emerges as a significant risk factor. However, the relationship between visceral fat area (VFA) and MetS within this population remains inadequately explored, and the diagnostic threshold for MetS in normal-weight individuals is yet to be established.
methodsThis study used a cross-sectional design combined with longitudinal cohort analysis. Data were collected from 5,944 normal-weight participants who underwent health screenings at Henan Provincial People's Hospital of China between October 2018 and October 2024. VFA was measured via multislice computed tomography scanning, and VFA-based tertile categorization was applied among the participants. The relationship between VFA and MetS was examined using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Nonlinear relationship was investigated by restricted cubic spline (RCS) modeling, and diagnostic accuracy was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Furthermore, data from individuals who completed three or more screenings were used to construct Kaplan-Meier survival curves for MetS events, with significance tested using the log-rank method.
resultsAmong the individuals with a normal BMI, elevated VFA was associated with a high incidence of MetS. After the adjustment for confounders, VFA was significantly associated with MetS risk [odds ratio (OR) = 1.13, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12-1.25]. The subjects in the highest VFA tertile showed significantly elevated MetS risk (OR = 30.33; 95% CI: 19.00-48.43, P < 0.001) versus those in the lowest tertile. The RCS model demonstrated a nonlinear, positive association between VFA and MetS risk (P for nonlinearity < 0.001), with risk escalation slowing down when the VFA exceeded 100 cm². ROC analysis showed that VFA had the highest diagnostic accuracy for MetS compared with other abdominal fat measures (AUC = 0.844, sensitivity = 0.839, specificity = 0.793, and accuracy = 0.785). In a longitudinal subset of 398 normal-weight participants followed for 6 years, 106 MetS cases occurred, with cumulative incidence rising as VFA increased (log-rank test, P < 0.001).
conclusionVFA shows an independent, nonlinear, positive association with MetS risk among normal-weight individuals, with a threshold effect at 100 cm². VFA = 162.85 cm² may serve as an accurate and effective predictor for MetS in this population.
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