Associations of quantitative computed tomography measured abdominal and ectopic fat with impaired glucose metabolism in overweight/obese Chinese adults

Table 1 Binary logistic regression analysis of risk factors for impaired glucose metabolism in both sexes

Item	Crude		Model 1		Model 2
	OR (95%CI)	P value	OR (95%CI)	P value	OR (95%CI)	P value
Men
HFF
Q1 ≤ 13.30	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Q2: 13.30-21.30	3.50 (1.27-9.64)	0.015	3.32 (1.17-9.40)	0.024	3.45 (1.18-10.13)	0.024
Q3 > 21.30	6.50 (2.17-19.44)	0.001	5.85 (1.89-18.16)	0.002	5.24 (1.64-16.73)	0.005
VAT
Q1 ≤ 0.26	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Q2: 0.26-0.33	2.14 (0.79-5.83)	0.135	1.80 (0.62-5.18)	0.278	1.59 (0.54-4.70)	0.406
Q3 > 0.33	11.67 (3.28-41.49)	< 0.001	8.54 (2.07-35.31)	0.003	6.56 (1.55-27.86)	0.011
SAT
Q1 ≤ 0.24	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Q2: 0.24-0.35	0.18 (0.05-0.65)	0.008	0.20 (0.05-0.75)	0.017	0.21 (0.05-0.79)	0.207
Q3 > 0.35	0.09 (0.02-0.31)	< 0.001	0.11 (0.03-0.49)	0.004	0.13 (0.03-0.60)	0.008
Women
HFF
Q1 ≤ 8.30	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Q2: 8.30-17.50	1.90 (0.70-5.16)	0.211	2.12 (0.76-5.93)	0.153	2.08 (0.73-5.96)	0.173
Q3 > 17.50	5.02 (1.79-14.05)	0.002	5.67 (1.95-16.49)	0.001	6.45 (2.12-19.63)	0.001
VAT
Q1 ≤ 0.20	1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)		1.00 (ref)
Q2: 0.20-0.26	1.28 (0.48-3.41)	0.619	1.25 (0.47-3.36)	0.653	1.25 (0.45-3.44)	0.667
Q3 > 0.26	3.08 (1.13-8.41)	0.028	3.02 (1.10-8.29)	0.032	3.29 (1.17-9.29)	0.024

Sex-specific tertile cutoffs were established at the 33.3% and 66.7% of each adiposity measure derived from the analytic sample. Q1, representing the lowest tertile, served as the reference category. Model 1 adjusted for age; model 2 adjusted for age and dyslipidemia. VAT: Visceral adipose tissue; HFF: Hepatic fat fraction; SAT: Subcutaneous adipose tissue; OR: Odds ratio; ref: Reference.

Table 2 Baseline characteristics of the participants grouped by glucose metabolism status in both sexes, mean ± SD/median (interquartile range)

Variable	Men				Women
	NGT (n = 39)	IGT (n = 26)	DM (n = 35)	ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis test (P value)	NGT (n = 54)	IGT (n = 27)	DM (n = 24)	ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis test (P value)
Age (years)	28.95 ± 8.94	32.46 ± 9.16	37.17 ± 8.43b	< 0.001	29.56 ± 7.89	33.37 ± 6.46a	30.46 ± 9.57	0.130
BMI	35.34 ± 4.60	34.80 ± 4.41	33.32 ± 6.30	0.252	32.26 ± 4.19	34.69 ± 4.85a	33.19 ± 4.82	0.080
FPG (mmol/L)	5.10 (4.85-5.36)	5.99 (5.60-6.37)b	7.61 (6.69-8.87)b,d	< 0.001	5.08 (4.87-5.38)	5.53 (5.14-5.91)b	6.72 (5.04-7.46)b	< 0.001
2hPG (mmol/L)	5.74 (5.27-7.13)	8.88 (8.04-10.16)b	13.19 (12.06-17.09)b,d	< 0.001	6.51 (6.06-7.19)	8.70 (8.30-9.23)b	12.48 (11.96-15.50)b	< 0.001
TC (mmol/L)	4.80 (4.30-5.49)	5.39 (4.74-5.78)	4.92 (4.44-5.64)	0.153	4.72 (4.31-5.51)	4.73 (4.33-5.84)	4.78 (4.15-5.25)	0.648
TG (mmol/L)	1.42 (1.16-2.07)	1.91 (1.61-2.87)	2.1 (1.56-3.61)b	0.005	1.19 (0.93-1.59)	1.66 (1.28-2.19)b	1.40 (1.11-2.25)	0.006
LDL-C (mmol/L)	3.08 (2.55-3.58)	3.23 (2.90-3.71)	2.94 (2.64-3.43)	0.205	2.82 (2.65-3.27)	2.88 (2.63-3.54)	3.05 (2.44-3.32)	0.765
HDL-C (mmol/L)	1.23 (1.07-1.35)	1.09 (1.00-1.34)	1.08 (0.88-1.20)a	0.027	1.29 (1.04-1.46)	1.13 (0.94-1.22)	1.05 (0.94-1.13)b	0.004
DIearly	8.98 (6.35-12.46)	2.97 (1.85-4.58)b	0.73 (0.37-2.17)b,d	< 0.001	8.73 (5.56-10.82)	5.01 (3.50-7.31)a	1.63 (1.01-5.18)b	< 0.001
HOMA-IR	5.82 (3.55-8.22)	7.46 (6.08-11.48)	9.29 (5.31-15.65)a	0.010	4.40 (2.85-7.68)	6.03 (4.48-8.56)	6.98 (4.65-10.21)	0.038
Hypertension	6	7	14	0.059	7	7	7	0.172
Dyslipidemia	10	11a	20c	0.022	11	10	9	0.160

^aP < 0.05 vs normal glucose tolerance.

^bP < 0.01 vs normal glucose tolerance.

^cP < 0.05 vs impaired glucose tolerance.

^dP < 0.01 vs impaired glucose tolerance.

NGT: Normal glucose tolerance; IGT: Impaired glucose tolerance; DM: Diabetes mellitus; BMI: Body mass index; FPG: Fasting plasma glucose; 2hPG: 2-hour postprandial glucose; TC: Total cholesterol; TG: Triglyceride, HDL-C: High-density lipoprotein cholesterol; LDL-C: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HOMA-IR: Homeostatic model assessment of IR; ANOVA: Analysis of variance.

Table 3 Fat distribution variables based on quantitative-computed tomography measurements, mean ± SD/median (interquartile range)

Variable	NGT	IGT	DM	ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis test (P value)
Men	n = 39	n = 26	n = 35
HFF	12.6 (10.00-21.60)	21.15 (17.05-26.9)b	16.80 (13.13-24.48)	0.006
VAT	0.25 ± 0.07	0.30 ± 0.08a	0.32 ± 0.07b	< 0.001
SAT	0.34 ± 0.09	0.30 ± 0.10	0.23 ± 0.08b,d	< 0.001
TAT	0.59 ± 0.07	0.60 ± 0.11	0.55 ± 0.10	0.111
MFF	0.05 (0.03-0.08)	0.06 (0.03-0.10)	0.05 (0.04-0.08)	0.620
PFF	15.30 (11.10-19.80)	14.00 (11.58-17.80)	17.25 (12.83-22.93)	0.468
Women	n = 54	n = 27	n = 24
HFF	9.95 (5.58-15.08)	14.80 (7.83-22.50)	23.70 (12.55-29.13)b	< 0.001
VAT	0.22 ± 0.06	0.24 ± 0.05	0.25 ± 0.06a	0.060
SAT	0.39 ± 0.09	0.38 ± 0.09	0.36 ± 0.08	0.644
TAT	0.61 ± 0.10	0.62 ± 0.09	0.62 ± 0.10	0.761
MFF	0.06 (0.03-0.10)	0.07 (0.06-0.11)	0.07 (0.05-0.09)	0.259
PFF	15.50 (13.40-18.60)	15.50 (13.23-18.40)	17.40 (12.10-19.60)	0.548

^aP < 0.05 vs normal glucose tolerance.

^bP < 0.01 vs normal glucose tolerance.

^dP < 0.01 vs impaired glucose tolerance.

VAT: Visceral adipose tissue; SAT: Subcutaneous adipose tissue; HFF: Hepatic fat fraction; MFF: Muscle fat fraction; PFF: Pancreatic fat fraction; NGT: Normal glucose tolerance; IGT: Impaired glucose tolerance; ANOVA: Analysis of variance; TAT: Total adipose tissue; DM: Diabetes mellitus.

Table 4 Correlation between fat depots and -cell function

Fat depot	Men		Women
	ρ	P value	ρ	P value
HFF	-0.232	0.032	-0.113	0.271
VAT	-0.386	< 0.001	-0.252	0.015
SAT	0.357	< 0.001	0.093	0.375
TAT	0.049	0.661	-0.073	0.487
MFF	-0.095	0.389	-0.095	0.357
PFF	0.054	0.628	0.006	0.956

DI_early as dependent variable. VAT: Visceral adipose tissue; HFF: Hepatic fat fraction; SAT: Subcutaneous adipose tissue; TAT: Total adipose tissue; MFF: Muscle fat fraction; PFF: Pancreatic fat fraction.