Exploring Visceral Fat as a Screening Marker for Cardiometabolic Risk in Children and Adolescents

Bibliographic Data

ID15714270
AuthorsXia Wang (0000-0002-5256-0611, Capital Medical University), Hong Cheng (0009-0006-9669-8969, Capital Institute of Pediatrics), Jingfan Xiong (0009-0008-9126-1738, Department of Child and Adolescent Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control, Shenzhen 518000, China), Junting Liu (0000-0003-3912-9568, Capital Institute of Pediatrics), Hongbo Dong (0000-0002-2225-3274, Beijing Children’s Hospital), Liwan Fu (0000-0002-7851-6379, Capital Medical University), Xiangjun Xie (Beijing Children’s Hospital), Xinying Shan (Capital Institute of Pediatrics), Xiaoyuan Zhao (0000-0002-8628-2023, Capital Institute of Pediatrics), Yinkun Yan (0000-0002-7758-744X, Beijing Children’s Hospital), Pei Xiao (0000-0001-9976-7655, Beijing Children’s Hospital, corresponding author), Jie Mi (0000-0003-0630-8447, Beijing Children’s Hospital, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume12
Issue3
Pages308-308
Publication date2025-02-28
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildren (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2227-9067 • E-ISSN: 2227-9067
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/children12030308
PMID40150591
OpenAlexW4408033345
LanguageEN
References cited40

Objective: To establish and validate age- and sex-specific visceral fat area (VFA) cutoff values for the effective identification of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) in children and adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 8133 participants was conducted to derive age- and sex-specific VFA cutoffs, which were validated in a longitudinal cohort comprising 10,805 individuals. The predictive performance of the derived VFA cutoffs for CMR was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Additionally, logistic regression models were utilized to calculate the relative risk (RR) of CMR associated with elevated VFA levels. Results: The 75th percentile of the VFA was identified as the optimal cutoff for screening for hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and CMR clustering in boys. In girls, the 75th percentile was optimal for screening hypertension, dyslipidemia, and CMR clustering, while the 80th percentile proved best for hyperglycemia. No significant difference in predicative performance was observed between the optimal and simplified VFA cutoffs. Longitudinal validation demonstrated that individuals exceeding the VFA cutoff had a significantly higher risk for CMR, with RRs ranging from 1.33 to 3.89 (all p p Conclusions: Both the optimal and simplified VFA cutoffs are robust tools for screening CMR in Chinese children and adolescents, with significant implications for early intervention strategies

Body mass index · Cohort · Cutoff · Dyslipidemia · Logistic regression · Obesity · Overweight · Percentile · Receiver operating characteristic · Statistics · Cardiovascular Disease and Adiposity · Demography · Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins · Mathematics · Medicine · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Internal Medicine

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access