Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction: Waist circumference (WC) has been recognized as an appropriate index of obesity and is closely associated with the amount of abdominal fat. Although abdominal fat distribution (AFD), which is represented by the ratio of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) to subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) area (V/S ratio), is possibly related to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), few studies have explored the relationship between AFD and CVD outcomes. This study aimed to assess the influence of AFD based on the V/S ratio and physique categorized by WC on long-term clinical results in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).
Methods: We evaluated 931 consecutive patients (mean age, 67 years; 42.4% women) with suspected CAD who underwent computed tomography (CT) angiography. The patients also underwent plain abdominal CT to assess and measure VAT and SAT areas; V/S ratio was calculated to assess AFD. The patients were divided into four groups based on the median V/S ratio (0.624) and reference values of WC for metabolic syndrome in Japan (85 cm for men, 90 cm for women). We assessed the relationship between the V/S ratio and long-term clinical outcomes in each WC group. The main outcome was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs, including cardiac death, any coronary revascularization, acute coronary syndrome, and emergency hospitalization due to cardiac cause).
Results: Over a median follow-up of 1869 days, although the incidence of any cardiovascular event was not related to the V/S ratio among patients with high WC, a higher incidence of MACE and cardiac death was noted among patients with low WC in the high V/S ratio group than in the low V/S ratio group. Furthermore, Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed a significantly lower MACE-free survival rate among patients with low WC in the high V/S ratio group than in the low V/S ratio group, despite of no differences being noted among high WC patients in both the V/S ratio groups (Figure).
Conclusion: Only in patients with low WC, a high V/S ratio was linked to increased risks of MACE. Thus, high V/S ratio may be an essential risk factor for CVD, specifically in patients with low WC. However, AFD did not influence CVD prognosis in patients with high WC.