The clinical application value of the visceral fat area-to-hip circumference ratio in type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbidities

Purpose: Visceral fat is a crucial factor that elevates the risk of comorbidities associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Consequently, this study endeavors to investigate the association between the visceral fat area-to-hip circumference ratio (VHR) and T2DM comorbidities, aiming to swiftly assess the risk of comorbidities in patients by measuring VHR. Patients and methods: A total of 2124 T2DM patients visited the Department of Endocrinology at the National Metabolic Management Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University between June 2018 and October 2023, and collected the physical measurement indicators and various blood biochemical indicators of all subjects. The subjects were stratified into four subgroups by the quartiles of VHR levels, and a comparative analysis of the prevalence of T2DM comorbidities among these subgroups was performed. Correlation analysis was carried out to investigate the correlation between VHR and various indicators. Binary logistic regression analysis was utilized to evaluate the relationship between the VHR level and T2DM comorbidities. The ROC curve was employed to determine the diagnostic value of VHR for T2DM comorbidities. Results: The comorbidities of patients with T2DM increase significantly along with the elevation of the VHR level. The VHR level was positively correlated with IR, UA, and TG and negatively correlated with age, disease duration, and HDL-c ( P < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that VHR remained an independent influencing factor for T2DM comorbidities after adjusting for multiple confounding factors. ROC curve analysis showed that the areas under the curve for VHR in predicting insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and hyperuricemia in patients with T2DM were 0.673, 0.651, and 0.665 respectively ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: VHR is independently associated with multiple diabetic complications, indicating that VHR may serve as a predictor in the onset of comorbidities related to T2DM.