Re-evaluating the associations of abdominal and ectopic fat accumulation with impaired glucose metabolism based on Q-CT measurements in overweight/obese Chinese subjects by gender

Objective: Re-evaluate the associations of abdominal adiposity and ectopic fat accumulation with impaired glucose metabolism (IGM) in overweight/obese Chinese subjects by gender, based on quantitative computed tomography (Q-CT) measurements. Materials and Methods: This study included 205 participants (100 males, 105 females ) with BMI ≥24, aged between 18 and 50 years. All participants underwent a standard 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The subjects were divided into three categories according to their glucose status: normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes (DM) for both genders. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) was conducted to ascertain the quantities of abdominal fat and fat within the liver, pancreas, and skeletal muscle. IGM was defined as the presence of IGT or DM. The data was analyzed separately by gender. Results: The hepatic fat fraction (HFF) was found to be significantly higher in IGMpatients than in NGT subjects, across both genders. After adjusting for age and dyslipidemia, the odds ratio for the prevalence of IGM in the highest tertile of HFF was 5.24 (95% CI 1.64-16.73) in males and 6.45 (95% CI 2.12-19.63) in females, respectively. Further analysis demonstrated that other fat fractions, specifically visceral adipose tissue (VAT), exhibited significantly higher levels in IGM patients compared to NGT subjects, across both genders. With regard to VAT, the odds ratio for IGM was 6.56 (95% CI 1.55-27.86) in males and 3.29 (95% CI 1.17-9.29) in females, respectively. The results for subcutaneous fat tissue (SAT) demonstrated significantly lower levels in diabetic patients than in non-diabetic and IGT patients. In males, the odds ratio for IGM of SAT was 0.13 (95% CI 0.03-0.60). Conclusions: The results demonstrated that both HFF and VAT were independent risk factors for IGM in Chinese overweight/obese subjects of both genders. In male subjects, SAT was found to be a beneficial factor in reducing the risk of IGM. The findings revealed useful biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the early detection and prevention of diabetes in Chinese subjects with overweight/obesity.