The Subcutaneous Abdominal Fat and Not the Intraabdominal Fat Compartment Is Associated with Anovulation in Women with Obesity and Infertility

Context: Abdominal fat contributes to anovulation. Objective: We compared body fat distribution measurements and their contribution to anovulation in obese ovulatory and anovulatory infertile women. Design: Seventeen ovulatory and 40 anovulatory women (age, 30 ± 4 yr; body mass index, 37.7 ± 6.1 kg/m2) participated. Body fat distribution was measured by anthropometrics, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and single-sliced abdominal computed tomography scan. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to determine which fat compartments significantly contributed to anovulation. Results: Anovulatory women had a higher waist circumference (113 ± 11 vs. 104 ± 9 cm; P < 0.01) and significantly more trunk fat (23.0 ± 5.3 vs. 19.1 ± 4.2 kg; P < 0.01) and abdominal fat (4.4 ± 1.3 kg vs. 3.5 ± 0.9 kg; P < 0.05) on dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan than ovulatory women despite similar body mass index. The volume of intraabdominal fat on single-sliced abdominal computed tomography scan was not significantly...