Relation of Abdominal and Thigh Adipose Tissue Distribution to Serum Lipids and Glucose Metabolism in Obese Males

: Spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and postprocessing for fat quantification were used to examine the relationship of abdominal and thigh adipose-tissue distribution to serum lipids and glucose metabolism in obesity. Thirteen simple obese male patients and 12 non-obese male volunteers were examined by MRI, blood pressure, and fasting blood sample levels of serum lipids, glucose, immunoreactive insulin, c-peptide, HbA1C and hematocrit. Correlations of thigh visceral and subcutaneous fat areas to serum lipid levels were generally similar, but marked differences were found between relationships of thigh versus abdominal fat areas to serum lipid levels. In addition, diastolic blood pressure was significantly correlated with the fat area, especially with the abdominal visceral fat area (r=0.51, p<0.01), but not with abdominal subcutaneous fat area. The thigh muscle area was highly and inversely correlated with c-peptide (r=-0.72, p<0.01) and systolic blood pressure (r=-0.65). Differences in correlations between visceral and subcutaneous fat areas in the abdomen to metabolic parameters were found between abdominal visceral fat areas and HbA1C and between the abdominal subcutaneous fat areas and HbA1C. These findings suggest that the character of regional fat could be heterogeneous with respect to lipid and glucose metabolism and blood pressure levels in obese males.