The Correlation Between Visceral Fat Area to Skeletal Muscle Mass Ratio and Multiorgan Insulin Resistance in Chinese Population With Obesity

Insulin resistance (IR) is an important risk factor for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, and our previous findings have demonstrated that visceral fat area to skeletal muscle mass ratio (VSR) is significantly and positively associated with the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between VSR and multiorgan IR, provide a new approach to improve body composition, and set the basis for VSR to increase the incidence of cardiometabolic diseases. The study included 398 patients who underwent anthropometric and biochemical measurements, and body composition assessment. Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between VSR and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) as well as multiorgan IR, including homeostasis model assessment adiponectin (HOMA-AD), adipose tissue insulin resistance (ADIPO-IR), and hepatic insulin sensitivity (HISI). The new model that incorporated into the present study is made up of easily measured biochemical indicators and is used to predict IR. Logistic regression was used to analyze the odds ratio (OR) of VSR on the risk of multiorgan IR. The predictive value of VSR for HOMA-IR and new model was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. VSR was significantly associated with HOMA-IR, HOMA-AD, ADIPO-IR, 1/HISI, and new model ( < 0.001). With the increase of VSR, the OR increased significantly for HOMA-IR and new model ( < 0.001). Then, multiorgan IR indicators were quantified, compared to the lowest quartile group, and increased VSR exacerbated the risk of IR in the highest quartile ( < 0.001). The area under the curve for predicting IR using VSR for HOMA-IR and new model was 0.88 for men, 0.85 for women and 0.73 for men, 0.76 for women, respectively. There was significant correlation between VSR and multiorgan IR, and the risk of multiorgan IR increased with increasing VSR. Clinical Trial Registry identifier: ChiCTR2100044305.