Deriving the Cut-Off of Visceral Adiposity Index as a Promising Tool to Assess Abdominal Obesity

Visceral Adiposity Index to assess Abdominal Obesity

Abstract

Background: The visceral fat tissue is an active organ and visceral obesity present is a potent risk factor for metabolic changes in the body. Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI) is becoming a novel health assessment index and effective marker for stratifying adults for obesity phenotypes. The aim of the study is to associate and correlate the visceral adiposity index and insulin resistance among selected experimental and control adult women and to derive cut-off points among adult women between the age group of18-30 years. Methods: The target group of 300 adult women (150 obese and 150 non-obese) between the age group of 18 to 30 years were purposively selected depending on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Biochemical parameters like total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, fasting blood glucose and fasting insulin were estimated Visceral Adiposity Index (VAI) and Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated and evaluated. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis the cut-off value of VAI was found. Results: The VAI value was found to be higher among the experimental (Obese) compared to the control (Non-obese) which was 1% significant. A positive correlation was seen between of VAI with age,
weight, BMI, WC, HC, WHtR, TC and TG with 1% significance. The R-value derived from the regression analysis was 0.940. The scatterplot between VAI and HOMA-IR indicates no strength of linear relation between VAI and IR. Conclusion: VAI is a simple and accurate means to measure the visceral adiposity as it is economical and can be used for sustainably.