Risk of all-cause mortality in abdominal obesity phenotypes: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

Abstract Background and Aim Long-term health risks in the so-called “healthy obesity” phenotypes remain controversial. Also it is unknown if “metabolically healthy abdominal obese” (MHAO) phenotype is at increased risk of all-cause mortality compared to their non-abdominally obese counterparts. In this study we assessed the risk of all-cause mortality in different abdominal obesity phenotypes. Methods and Results In this large population-based cohort, 8804 participants (aged ≥ 30 years), from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS) were enrolled and followed for a median of 12.0 (8.7–12.5) years. Abdominal obesity was defined using national waist circumference (WC) cut-off points of ≥89 cm for men and ≥91 cm for women. Metabolic health was defined as ≤1 components of metabolic syndrome (excluding WC), using the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) definition. Baseline prevalence of MHAO phenotype was 12.8% in the whole population and 23.4% in those with abdominal obesity. A total of 540 all-cause death occurred during the follow-up. After multivariate adjustment, all-cause mortality risk in MHAO phenotype was not significantly increased compared to “metabolically healthy non abdominal obese” (MHNAO) as the reference group (HR: 1.35, CI: 0.89–2.03). Conclusion Our results indicate that MHAO individuals were not at higher risk for all-cause mortality over a median of 12 years follow-up. However, considering inadequate power of our analysis for fully adjusted model, larger studies with more follow-ups are needed.