CORRELATION OF VISCERAL FAT LEVEL WITH WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE IN PATIENTS WITH NORMAL WEIGHT

Background and objectives: The aim of assessing nutritional status is to determine the general health of a patient from a nutritional point of view. Anthropometric techniques and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) are two of the most widely used field methods due to their easy application, good reproducibility and low cost. Knowing the size of visceral compartment allow us to predict metabolic risks. We aimed to correlate visceral fat level with waist circumference in patients with normal weight. Methods: We analyzed data from retrospective studies of patients undergoing nutritional assessment in the period 2015 by multifrequency BIA according to medical criteria. Anthropometry with 4 skinfold thickness and waist measurement was evaluated. The Spearman method was used to evaluate correlation between groups. Results: 1470 multifrequency bioelectrical impedance were performed. 19% (281) patient with normal weight 72% (202) female, Media BMI 22.4 kg/m2, 22% (44) of female population had a % of total body fat ≥ 35% and a 25% (50) had visceral fat higher than normal limit. 28% (79) were male, Media BMI 22,1 kg/m2, 5,1% (4) had a total body fat ≥ 25%. Global Rho spearman = 0.38 p 0.0000. By groups Female Rho spearman 0.64 p 0.000 and Male Rho spearman 0.73 p 0.0000 The Clinical Research and Bioethics Committee of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires approved the study. Conclusions: In all patients evaluated a weak linear relationship can be seen, concluding than waist circumference should not be used as a single method for an estimate of visceral fat in normal weight patient probably because it does not take into account height. The visceral fat size was independent of anthropometric indicators of adiposity such as BMI and waist circumference. Data analyzed by sex, evidenced an increased correlation in women.