Journal of internal medicine
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Comparative Study
Evaluation of regional body fat distribution: comparison between W/H ratio and computed tomography in obese women.
Measurements of regional body fat distribution as determined by waist-to-hip ratio and visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio were compared in 63 obese women. Subjects were divided into three CT-evaluated tertiles on the basis of visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio (group I, 0.05-0.231; group II, 0.232-0.344; group III, 0.345-0.781). The three groups showed no appreciable differences in body weight, body mass index or total abdominal adipose tissue. ⋯ Partial correlations between waist-to-hip ratio and visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio and metabolic variables, adjusted for body mass index, showed statistically significant relationships for visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio, but not for waist-to-hip ratio. Visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio correlated with waist-to-hip ratio in the study population as a whole, but only in group I did the correlation between visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio and waist-to-hip ratio prove statistically significant. The present study demonstrates that visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue ratio is a better index of body fat distribution than waist-to-hip ratio.