FAT DISTRIBUTION AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK-FACTORS IN OBESE ADOLESCENT GIRLS - IMPORTANCE OF THE INTRAABDOMINAL FAT DEPOT

The regional distribution of body fat has repeatedly been found to be a significant and independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease i n both obese men and women. To determine whether abnormalities in the lipid-lipoprotein profile and systolic and diastolic blood pressure ar e related to specific fat depots early in the course of obesity, we us ed magnetic resonance imaging to measure accurately intraabdominal and subcutaneous fat masses in 14 obese [body mass index (BMI; in kg/m(2) ) 30 +/- 1.3] and 10 nonobese (BMI: 21 +/- 0.5) adolescent girls match ed for age and Tanner stage of development. Intraabdominal and subcuta neous fat depots were two- to threefold greater in obese than in nonob ese girls (P < 0.01). Total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, low-density- lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, basal insulin, and systolic and diastol ic blood pressure were significantly higher in obese adolescent girls than in control subjects. In obese girls, intraabdominal fat but not B MI or waist-to-hip ratio was highly correlated with basal insulin (r = 0.55, P < 0.04), triacylglycerols (r = 0.53, P < 0.03), and high-dens ity-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r = -0.54, P < 0.04). Femoral adipo se tissue was inversely related to triacylglycerol (r = -0.51) and LDL cholesterol (r = -0.56, P < 0.05) concentrations in obese girls. The study indicates that early in the natural history of obese adolescent girls, cardiovascular risk factors are related to the amount of intraa bdominal fat.