Reduction of visceral fat correlates with the decrease in the number of obesity-related cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese with abdominal obesity (VACATION-J study)

Aim: visceral fat accumulation is associated with obesity-related cardiovascular risk factor accumulation and atherosclerosis. the present study investigated whether one-year reduction of the visceral fat area (vfa) correlates with a decrease in the number of such factors in japanese with or without visceral fat accumulation. methods: the study subjects comprised 5,347 japanese,who underwent health check-ups in 2007 and 2008,including measurements of vfa and subcutaneous fat area (sfa) by computed tomography at 9 centers in japan. subjects with one or more such factor(s) were categorized into tertiles based on the one-year change in vfa. we investigated the multivariate age,sex,and one-year change in sfa-adjusted odds ratios (ors) and 95% confidence intervals (ci) for reductions in the number of risk factors in each of the three categories based on the one-year change in vfa,in subjects with one or more such factors (n = 3,648). results: in the entire group (n= 3,648),the or and 95%ci for reductions in the number of risk factors in the first tertile were 0.804 (0.673-0.962,p= 0.0172),compared with the second tertile set at 1.0. subjects with vfa <100 cm2 showed no reduction in the number of risk factors. in subjects with vfa ≥100 cm2,or in the first tertile was 0.788 (0.639-0.972,p= 0.0257) relative to the second tertile set at 1.0. conclusions: in subjects with multiple cardiovascular risk factors,visceral fat reduction correlated with a decrease in the number of such factors in subjects with vfa ≥100 cm2,but not in those with vfa <100 cm2.