ULTRASONOGRAPHIC INTRAABDOMINAL DEPTH AND ITS RELATION TO HEMOSTATIC FACTORS IN HEALTHY-MALES

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of intra-abdominal fat to plasm a haemostatic factors. SUBJECTS: 60 healthy, predominantly nonobese, m ale volunteers aged 38 years. MEASUREMENTS: Anthropometry, sonographic intra-abdominal depth (IAD), as an indicator of intra-abdominal fat, plasma lipids, plasma insulin (at fasting and after glucose load), var ious plasma haemostatic factors. RESULTS: Sonographic IAD correlated p ositively with plasma fibrinogen (r=0.33; P<0.01), PAI-1 activity (r=0 .52; P<0.0001) and antigen (r=0.32; P<0.05), and negatively with t-PA activity, at baseline and after stasis (r=-0.28 and r=0.31; P<0.05). F actor VII levels did not correlate significantly with sonographic IAD. Haemostatic variables were also closely associated with BMI, plasma t riglyceride and insulin concentrations. Most correlations of haemostat ic factors with IAD disappeared after adjustment for either BMI or ins ulin or triglycerides, except PAI-1 levels which maintained a signific ant association even after simultaneous adjustment for all potential c onfounders. CONCLUSIONS: These results, obtained by sonography, confir m our previous findings of significant associations of haemostatic var iables with visceral fat accumulation by using computed tomography, an d highlight the role of the intra-abdominal fat as an independent pred ictor of PAI-1 activity.