Exploring the Relationship Between Visceral Fat and Coronary Artery Calcification Risk Using Metabolic Score for...

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Metabolic Health
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a significant indicator of cardiovascular disease.
• Intra-abdominal fat estimation is crucial for assessing metabolic risk.
• The Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) is a new metric for visceral fat, but its association with CAC is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between the novel Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) and coronary artery calcification (CAC).
• To compare the efficacy of METS-VF in predicting CAC against established anthropometric indices.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 1217 participants underwent health checkups and computed tomography (CT) scans.
• Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores were used to categorize CAC severity.
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were employed to compare METS-VF with anthropometric indices for CAC prediction.

Main Results:

• METS-VF showed a significant positive association with the presence of CAC (OR, 1.506; p=0.001), independent of cardiometabolic factors.
• METS-VF was also associated with mild, moderate, and severe CAC categories.
• METS-VF demonstrated superior performance in estimating CAC presence and severity, achieving the highest Area Under Curve (AUC) values compared to other indices.

Conclusions:

• The Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) is a robust, independent marker for detecting CAC.
• METS-VF surpasses traditional anthropometric indices in identifying CAC presence and varying severity levels.