Visceral adipose tissue demonstrates a stronger association with venous thromboembolism than body mass index.

Background: Increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with an increased risk of venous thrombosis. However, recent data has highlighted that visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume may be a better marker of cardiometabolic risk.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between VAT volume and VTE risk and explore whether increased VAT volumes is associated with VTE risk.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study utilising MRI imaging data from the UK Biobank (UKB). The association between VTE incidence and VAT measured by MRI imaging from 39,144 UKB patients was analysed by ridge regression accounting for covariates including age and sex.

Results: VAT volume, as measured by MRI, was demonstrated to be associated with an increased risk of VTE [OR 4.020 (95%CI: 3.752 - 4.287) per dm³]. Moreover, we observed a significant association of VAT volume with VTE risk in both those who were overweight [VAT high; OR 1.589 (95%CI: 1.317 - 1.860), VAT medium; OR 1.303 (95%CI:1.054 -1.552)] and obese [VAT high; OR 3.222 (95%CI: 2.971 - 3.473)]. Notably, the strongest association of VAT was observed in those with obesity.

Conclusion: These data demonstrate for the first time that VAT volume is associated with an increased risk of VTE and importantly has a stronger association with VTE risk as compared to BMI.