SHORT COMMUNICATION Sex differences in the relationships of abdominal fat to cardiovascular disease risk among normal-weight white subjects

Laval University Medical Center, Ste-Foy, Quebec, CanadaThe objectives of this study are to investigate the relationships between abdominal fat and risk factors for cardiovascular disease(CVD) among normal-weight (NW) white subjects and to determine how these relationships differ by sex. NW adults (177 malesand 258 females) and overweight adults (133 males and 111 females) from the Que´bec Family Study and the HERITAGE FamilyStudy were retained for this study. Risk factors included systolic and diastolic blood pressures, low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein cholesterols, triglycerides, and fasting glucose. Only in NW female adults, abdominal visceral fat (AVF) areaassessed by computed tomography was significantly correlated with all risk factors, except for fasting glucose, even after age,study cohort, and fat mass were taken into account. NW female subjects with at least one risk factor had a significantly higherAVF than those without risk factors, although the difference was small. Thus, only NW female adults with more AVF tended tohave a more adverse CVD risk factor profile.International Journal of Obesity (2004) 28, 320–323. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802545Published online 25 November 2003Keywords: normal-weight; abdominal visceral fat; abdominal subcutaneous fat; cardiovascular disease risk factor; sexdifferences