Adipose Depot Changes and Associated Metabolic Risk in the Longitudinal Health Influences of Puberty Study

To assess longitudinal changes in abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue (SAT and VAT), hepatic fat fraction (HFF) and pancreatic fat fraction (PFF) across puberty in youth with/without obesity and examine associations with cardiometabolic risk markers.

Within the Health Influences of Puberty (HIP) cohort, we included 19 participants (53% female, 37% obesity) who completed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at early (Tanner 2/3) and late (Tanner 4/5) puberty to assess abdominal SAT and VAT areas (cm²), HFF (%) and PFF (%). Cardiometabolic markers included glucose/insulin measures assessed by intravenous glucose tolerance test, fasting lipid panel and adipokines.

From early to late puberty, among youth with obesity, median (interquartile range) abdominal SAT increased 83.1cm² (43.4) and, among youth without obesity, VAT/SAT ratio decreased -0.08 (0.08) and HFF increased 0.6% (0.5). In linear mixed models of adipose depots in early puberty and metabolic markers measured twice during puberty, adjusted for BMI group, abdominal SAT was positively associated with leptin β (95% confidence interval): 1.05 (0.35, 1.74), and VAT was positively associated with triglycerides 0.32 (0.02, 0.61) and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hsCRP) 1.40 (0.31, 2.49), while HFF was inversely associated with insulin sensitivity 0.32 (-0.58, -0.07) and PFF was inversely associated with adiponectin 0.23 (-0.42, -0.04) (all p < 0.05).

In this small sample, abdominal and ectopic fat depots in early puberty were uniquely associated with alterations in cardiometabolic risk markers during puberty.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01775813.