Relationship between Abdominal Aortic Calcification, Abdominal Adiposity, and Liver Density

OBJECTIVE: To identify any relationship among visceral adipose tissue area (visceral FA), liver density (liver HU), psoas muscle area (psoas MA), waist circumference (WC) and the presence and severity of abdominal aortic calcific atherosclerosis (AAC). STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Ankara Kecioren Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, from January to February 2019. METHODOLOGY: This study included 316 patients, who had CT performed for urolithiasis investigation. For all patients, the presence and grade of AAC was recorded. Then, liver HU, spleen density (spleen HU), psoas MA, visceral FA, total abdominal fat area (total FA), subcutaneous fat area (subcutaneous FA), WC and hip circumference (HC) were measured on a workstation. RESULTS: AAC was present in 127 patients (40.2%). The age, visceral FA, total FA, visceral FA/total FA ratio, WC and WC/HC ratio of patients with AAC were significantly higher than for patients without AAC (p <0.05). Psoas MA was significantly lower in patients with AAC (p <0.05). The cut-off value of visceral FA for the prediction of AAC was 131 cm2. The risk for AAC was 4.5 times higher in the group with visceral FA >131 cm2 (p <0.001). There were significant correlations between AAC grade and liver HU and spleen HU (p = 0.002 and p = 0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant correlation between AAC grade and liver HU/spleen HU ratio (p = 0.741). CONCLUSION: Psoas muscle area, visceral adiposity and waist circumference can be used to predict abdominal aortic calcification.