Objectives: To investigate the relationship between visceral fat thickness measured by US and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in patients with obesity who did not have hypertension or diabetes and who had normal renal function.
Methods: Inclusion criteria included an estimated GFR of greater than 90 mL/min/1.73 m2 , blood pressure lower than 120/80 mm Hg, and a fasting blood glucose level of less than 126 mg/dL. Patients were divided into groups with (body mass index ≥28 kg/m2 ) and without (body mass index <28 kg/m2 ) obesity. Subcutaneous and visceral fat thicknesses were measured with ultrasound.
Results: A total of 95 patients were enrolled with an age range of 25 to 58 years. The patients were divided into groups with (n = 48) and without obesity (n = 47); patients with obesity were further divided into subcutaneous obesity (n = 23) and visceral obesity (n = 25) groups. The estimated GFR in the group with obesity was significantly lower than that in the group without obesity (P = .037), and the estimated GFR in the group with visceral obesity was significantly lower than that in the group with subcutaneous obesity (P = .006). Moreover, the estimated GFR was negatively correlated with visceral fat thickness (V1:r = -0.750;P7 < 0.001;V2:r = -0.824;P < 0.001) but not correlated with subcutaneous fat thickness.
Conclusions: Ultrasound is an easy and accurate practical evaluation modality for measuring the thickness of fat. There was an inverse relationship between the estimated GFR and visceral fat thickness in patients with obesity who did not have hypertension or diabetes and who had normal renal function. This result suggests that as visceral fat increases, the estimated GFR may be reduced accordingly.
Keywords: estimated glomerular filtration rate; obese; ultrasound; visceral fat.
© 2019 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.