<p>Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) Estimation – A Novel Cost-Effective Obesity Indicator for Visceral Adipose Tissue Estimation</p>

Abstract

Background Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) assessment is limited in clinical practice due to expensive, time consuming and limited availability of MRI and DXA machines. We explored the utility of a recently developed Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) to assess VAT in south Asian individuals with morbid obesity. Patients and Methods Individuals with BMI ≥35 kg/m 2 aged between 30 and 60 years were randomly selected from a database of individuals with morbid obesity, attending a multi-disciplinary bariatric clinic in a tertiary care teaching hospital in southern India. Body composition was assessed by using a Hologic Discovery A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) machine. METS-VF was used to estimate VAT by using a previously published algorithm. Results The mean age and body mass index of the study subjects (N=350) were 38.2 years and 40.1 kg/m 2 . The MET-VF score performed satisfactorily (AUC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.72–0.85)) for predicting an increased visceral adipose tissue (VAT area ≥ 163 cm 2 ) as detected by DXA. A METS-VF value of 7.3 was found to have a good sensitivity and reasonable specificity in predicting elevated VAT in this population. Conclusion This is the first study to validate the utility of METS-VF as a surrogate measure of visceral adiposity in south Indian individuals with morbid obesity. Given the simplicity, easy availability, reliability and inexpensive nature of this obesity indicator, it may find its widespread use in lower middle-income countries.

Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat: a novel predictor for the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus

“…In a Mexican urban population, METS-VF was validated as a better performing predictor of T2DM incidence compared to other surrogate VAT indexes, including visceral adiposity index (VAI) and lipid accumulation product (LAP) (6) . One study to date, in southern Indian individuals with morbid obesity (7) , has validated the utility of METS-VF as a surrogate measure of visceral adiposity, while another retrospective cohort study from China indicated that METS-VF could be a useful tool for the hierarchical prevention and management of hyperuricemia among non-obese women (8) . So far, however, no published studies have explored the relationship between METS-VF and T2DM risk in the Chinese population.…”

Trabecular Bone Score and Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women with Morbid Obesity—A Clinical Paradox

“…A study with a larger sample size would also enable studying the impact of individual comorbidities on bone health in people with morbid obesity. Moreover, since the BMI is not the best marker for an obesity assessment, especially in the South Asian region [ 26 , 30 , 32 ], the relationship of other obesity indicators (waist−height ratio, visceral adiposity assessment, body fat percentage, lean mass, etc.) with bone health should be studied in future cohorts.…”

“…Eighty-five subjects with morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m 2 ) were recruited from the multidisciplinary obesity clinic in the hospital, and they were compared to 80 subjects with obesity (BMI ≥ 25–35 kg/m 2 ) and 85 non-obese women (BMI ≤ 25 kg/m 2 ) recruited from the community. The BMI cut-off points for obesity were defined as per the Asia-Pacific guidelines by the WHO, which suggest lower thresholds for obesity to identify the higher at-risk individuals at a lower BMI [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB Min no.…”

Barophenotypic Characterization – The key to Person Centric Management of Obesity

“…BMI, waist circumference, and fat composition measure the severity of obesity, whereas the relative distribution of fat over various sites of the body provides an overview of its metabolic impact. [ 10 ] The swiftness with which obesity develops, reverses, or recurs, offers insights regarding the etiology of the disease, behavior of the patient, and appropriate therapeutic options. Adipose topography gives diagnostic clues to the etiology of various disorders like in Cushing's syndrome there is one particular pattern of fat distribution predominantly over the trunk, upper torso, and face.…”