Anthropometric Assessment of Visceral Fat and Metabolic Risk

Visceral fat, the lipid depot surrounding internal organs, is a potent driver of insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular disease. Although imaging modalities such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance provide precise quantification of visceral adipose tissue, their cost, radiation exposure and limited accessibility have spurred the development of surrogate anthropometric measures. Traditional indicators – body mass index, waist circumference and waist–hip ratio – offer simplicity but lack specificity for the visceral compartment. Alternative metrics, including sagittal abdominal diameter and height-normalised adiposity indices, refine risk prediction by capturing the three-dimensional distribution of abdominal fat. Recent advances have produced multivariable models that combine standard measurements with demographic and laboratory data to estimate visceral fat area with high accuracy. Together, these tools enhance early identification of individuals at elevated metabolic risk, guide personalised intervention strategies and inform public health screening in diverse populations.

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Anthropometric Assessment of Visceral Fat and Metabolic Risk publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in anthropometric assessment of visceral fat and metabolic risk across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT): Fat stored within the peritoneal cavity around internal organs, strongly linked to metabolic dysfunction.

Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT): Fat deposited beneath the skin, less metabolically active than VAT.

Body mass index (BMI): A crude weight-for-height measure (kg/m²) used to classify general obesity.

Waist circumference (WC): A measure of abdominal girth that partly reflects visceral and subcutaneous fat.

Sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD): The anteroposterior thickness of the abdomen measured in supine position, an indicator of visceral fat volume.

Allometric scaling: A mathematical method to adjust body composition measures for differences in body size, often using height raised to a specific exponent.

References

1. Normal-weight visceral obesity promotes a higher 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus–a multicenter study in China. Cardiovascular Diabetology (2023).
2. Evaluation of Health Associations With Height‐Normalised Abdominal Body Composition Indices: A Single‐Centre Cross‐Sectional Study. Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle (2024).
3. Prediction of visceral adipose tissue magnitude using a new model based on simple clinical measurements. Frontiers in Endocrinology (2024).