Limb fat mass, fat-free mass indicative of cardiovascular disease risk factors

Fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) in the limbs affect the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD-RF), a recent study has found.

Drawing from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KHNANES), the researchers accessed data of 13,032 adults (mean age 44.22±0.26 years, 7,605 women), searching for diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidaemia (DL), hypertension (HTN), and metabolic syndrome (MetS). The prevalence rates of these CVD-RFs were compared according to the arm-to-leg and limbs-to-trunk ratios of FM and FFM, respectively.

After stratifying participants according to sex and quartile of body composition measures, regression analyses found that higher arm-to-leg FM ratio increased the risk of CVD-RFs, including HTN (men: odds ratio [OR], 2.16, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.62–2.88; women: OR, 3.76, 95 percent CI, 2.83–4.99) and DM (men: OR, 7.04, 95 percent CI, 4.22–11.74; women: OR, 10.57, 95 percent CI, 5.80–19.26).

The same was true for DL and MetS defined according to either the National Cholesterol Education Programme or the International Diabetes Federation criteria.

In contrast, arm-to-leg FFM ratio was inversely correlated with the risks of CVD-RFs. Men (OR, 0.75, 95 percent CI, 0.59–0.94) and women (OR, 0.73, 95 percent CI, 0.58–0.92) in the top quartile were significantly less likely to develop MetS.

A similar effect was reported for limb-to-trunk FM and FFM ratios, such that participants in the topmost quartiles of each body composition measure were at significantly lower risk of HTN, DM, DL, and MetS in both sexes.

“The higher the FM in the legs than in the arms, FFM in the arms than in the legs, and FM or FFM in the limbs than in the trunk, the lower the prevalence of CVD-RF. The findings of this study can be used as a guideline for improving body composition to reduce the prevalence of CVD-RF in patients with obesity or sarcopenic obesity,” the researchers said.