Association between the visceral adiposity index and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortalities in a large cohort: Findings from the UK biobank.

Background and Aims: The visceral adiposity index (VAI) has been recently established as a measure of visceral fat distribution and is shown to be associated with a wide range of adverse health events. However, the precise associations between the VAI score and all-cause and cause-specific mortalities in the general population remain undetermined.
Methods and Results: In this large-scale prospective epidemiological study, 357,457 participants (aged 38-73 years) were selected from the UK Biobank. We used Cox competing risk regression models to estimate the association between the VAI score and all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and other mortalities. The VAI score was significantly correlated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.200; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.148-1.255; P < 0.0001), cancer mortality (HR, 1.224; 95% CI, 1.150-1.303; P < 0.0001), CVD mortality (HR, 1.459; 95% CI, 1.148-1.255; P < 0.0001), and other mortalities (HR, 1.200; 95% CI, 1.148-1.255; P < 0.0001) after adjusting for a series of confounders. In addition, the subgroup analyses showed that HRs were significantly higher in participants who were male, aged below 65 years, and body mass index less than 25.
Conclusion: In summary, VAI was positively associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortalities in a nationwide, well-characterised population identified in a UK Biobank. The VAI score might be a complementary traditional predictive indicator for evaluating the risk of adverse health events in the population of Western adults aged 38 years and older.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare no support from companies for the submitted work; no relationships with companies that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no spouses, partners, or children that have financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work; and no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.
(Copyright © 2022 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)