Interrelationships among accumulations of intra- and peri-organ fat, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat

Abstract

We aimed to clarify the relationship between intra- and peri-organ fat, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat. We used abdominal CT to evaluate intra- and peri-organ fat accumulations in the pancreas, liver, spleen, renal parenchyma, renal sinus, and skeletal muscle. The relationships between these fats, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat were examined by using the partial correlation and covariance analysis, adjusting for BMI. We found that visceral fat and each intraand peri-organ fat accumulation were positively correlated, whereas subcutaneous fat and the accumulation of each intra- and peri-organ fat and visceral fat were negatively correlated. Pancreas fat, liver fat, renal sinus fat, and skeletal muscle fat accumulated significantly more in people with excessive visceral fat accumulation than in those without excessive visceral fat accumulation (p = 0.01, 0.006, 0.008, 0.02, respectively). In conclusion, intra- and peri-organ fat accumulation in each organ shows a positive correlation with visceral fat and a negative correlation with subcutaneous fat, independent of BMI.