SINGLE THRESHOLD VALUE OF WAIST GIRTH IDENTIFIES NORMAL-WEIGHT AND OVERWEIGHT SUBJECTS WITH EXCESS VISCERAL ADIPOSE-TISSUE

Our objective was to determine threshold values of waist girth, waist- to-hip ratio (WHR), and sagittal diameter corresponding to an accumula tion of visceral adipose tissue of 130 cm(2) and to verify whether the se threshold values could be influenced by sex, age, menopausal status , and the degree of obesity. From the regression equations computed in the total sample of 213 men [aged ((x) over bar +/- SD) 37.8 +/- 12.2 y] and 190 women (aged 37.3 +/- 12.1 y), a waist girth of approximate to 95 cm in both sexes, WHR values of 0.94 in men and of 0.88 in wome n, and sagittal diameters of 22.8 cm in men and 25.2 cm in women corre sponded to a visceral adipose tissue area of 130 cm(2). In both sexes, threshold values of waist girth corresponding to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue were generally lower in subjects who were grea ter than or equal to 40 y old (approximate to 90 cm) than in younger i ndividuals (approximate to 100 cm). Similar differences were found for WHR and sagittal diameter threshold values. Finally, threshold values of waist girth corresponding to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue were essentially similar in normal-weight and overweight men an d women, whereas threshold values of WHR were in general higher in nor mal-weight than in overweight subjects. In conclusion, our results sug gest that the relations of anthropometric variables to visceral adipos e tissue accumulation are age-specific. However, waist girth is likely to be a more convenient anthropometric correlate of visceral adipose tissue than the WHR because threshold values of waist girth correspond ing to critical amounts of visceral adipose tissue do not appear to be influenced by sex or by the degree of obesity.