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Associations between body fat variability and later onset of cardiovascular disease risk factors
Yuki Saito1, Osamu Takahashi1,2, Hiroko Arioka1
1Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, St. Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Insights
Body fat variability shows mixed effects on cardiovascular risks, while body weight variability does not significantly impact them. This research highlights body fat percentage (BF%) variability as a key factor in cardiovascular health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Metabolic Health
- Public Health
Background:
- Debate exists on the link between body weight variability and cardiovascular events.
- High body fat percentage (BF%) is a known cardiovascular risk factor.
- Variability in BF% may pose a distinct cardiovascular risk compared to weight variability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between BF% variability and cardiovascular risk.
- To compare the cardiovascular risk posed by BF% variability versus body weight variability.
- To test the hypothesis that BF% variability is a stronger cardiovascular risk indicator.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective cohort study of 11,281 medical check-up examinees (≥20 years old).
- BF% variability calculated using root-mean square error (RMSE) from 2005-2009 data.
- Logistic regression models assessed the link between BF%-RMSE and new cardiovascular risk factors (2009-2013/2014).
Main Results:
- Higher BF%-RMSE (76-100th percentile) correlated with increased hypertension incidence.
- Higher BF%-RMSE was associated with decreased diabetes mellitus incidence.
- Body Mass Index (BMI)-RMSE showed no significant association with cardiovascular risks.
- Observed tendencies were more pronounced in male participants.
Conclusions:
- Body fat variability demonstrates contrasting effects on cardiovascular risk factors.
- Body weight variability (BMI-RMSE) did not show significant associations with cardiovascular risks in this cohort.
- BF% variability warrants further investigation as a potential cardiovascular risk marker, especially in men.
Objective:
There is current debate regarding whether body weight variability is associated with cardiovascular events. Recently, high body fat percentage (BF%) has been shown to be a cardiovascular risk factor. We therefore hypothesized that BF% variability would present a stronger cardiovascular risk than body weight variability.
Methods:
A single-center retrospective cohort study of medical check-up examinees aged 20 years or older at baseline (2005) was performed. Examinees were followed in 2007, 2009, and 2013-2014. BF% variability in 2005, 2007 and 2009 was calculated as the root-mean square error (RMSE) using a simple linear regression model. Multiple logistic regression models estimated the association between BF%-RMSE and new diagnoses of cardiovascular risk factors occurring between the 2009 and 2013-2014 visits.
Results:
In total, 11,281 participants (mean age: 51.3 years old, 48.8% were male) were included in this study. The average BF%-RMSE of our subjects was 0.63, and the average BMI-RMSE was 0.24. The high BF%-RMSE group (76-100th percentile) had a higher incidence of hypertension and a lower incidence of diabetes mellitus than the low BF%-RMSE group (1-25th percentile). This tendency was particularly evident in male participants. BMI-RMSE was not associated with any cardiovascular risks in our study.
Conclusions:
This study indicates that body fat variability has contrasting effects on cardiovascular risk factors, while body weight variability has no significant effects.