Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Abdominal Ectopic Fat Deposition in Correlation With Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Figure 1. (A) Liver segmentation: the whole hepatic fat fraction was calculated using the 3D semiautomatic segmentation method. (B) Muscle segmentation: the arithmetic mean fat fraction of bilateral paraspinal muscles (including erector spinae and multifidus muscles) in the scanning range was calculated as the intramuscular fat fraction using the 3D semiautomatic segmentation method. (C) Pancreas segmentation: the whole pancreatic fat fraction was calculated using the 3D semiautomatic segmentation method. (D) Preperitoneal adipose tissue measurement: the area and the fat fraction of preperitoneal adipose tissue were measured using spline contour region of interest (ROI) method.

Figure 2. Association of VAT area (A) and hepatic FF (C) with continuous cardiometabolic risk factors and further adjustment for BMI (B, D) expressed by β-coefficients and 95% confidence intervals. For all patients, higher VAT area was associated with higher systolic BP, higher diastolic BP, higher FPG, higher TG, lower HDL-C, and higher LDL-C (A); after further adjustment for BMI, these correlations continued to exist, except for systolic and diastolic BP (B). Higher hepatic FF was associated with higher FPG, higher TG, higher TC, lower HDL-C, and higher LDL-C (C); after further adjustment for BMI, these correlations were still significant, except for HDL-C (D).

Figure 3. Graphical summary of the important correlates between various MRI-acquired fat measurements and continuous cardiometabolic risk factors independent of BMI shown in the present study. VAT area and hepatic fat were significantly associated with multiple continuous cardiometabolic risk factors.

Figure 4. Association of VAT area (A), V/S (C), hepatic FF (E), pancreatic FF (G), and pPAT FF (I) with dichotomous cardiometabolic risk factors and further adjustment for BMI (B, D, F, H, J) expressed by odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. VAT area was significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension, T2DM, high TG, low HDL-C, and CCRFs (A); after further adjustment for BMI, these correlations continued to be significant (B). V/S was significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension, T2DM, low HDL-C, and CCRFs (C). After further adjustment for BMI, these correlations continued to be significant (D). Hepatic FF was significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension, T2DM, high TG, high TC, low HDL-C, high LDL-C, and CCRFs (E); after further adjustment for BMI, these correlations continued to be significant, except for hypertension, T2DM, and low HDL-C (F). Pancreatic FF was significantly associated with increased risk of hypertension, T2DM, high TG, low HDL-C, and CCRFs (G); after further adjustment for BMI, these correlations continued to be significant (H). pPAT FF was significantly associated with increased risk of high TG, high TC, low HDL-C, and…

Figure 5. Graphical summary of the important correlates between various MR-acquired fat measurements and dichotomous cardiometabolic risk factors independent of BMI shown in the present study. VAT area, V/S, hepatic fat, pancreatic fat, and pPAT were significantly associated with multiple dichotomous cardiometabolic risk factors.