Subcutaneous adipose tissue distribution and serum lipid/lipoprotein in unmedicated postmenopausal women: A B-mode ultrasound study

Background It has been observed that gluteal-femoral adipose tissue has a protective effect against risk factors for cardiovascular disease but has not yet been concluded how different evaluation methods of fat distribution affect the results. Methods To test the hypothesis that B-mode ultrasound-measured subcutaneous adipose tissue distribution is associated with cardiovascular risk factors, 326 Japanese unmedicated postmenopausal women aged 50–70 years were analyzed. Subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness at 6 sites (anterior and posterior aspects of trunk, upper-arm, and thigh) and serum total (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) was measured, and a ratio of HDLC to TC (HDLC/TC) was calculated. We used Bayesian linear regression with 4 separate models with each model predicting HDLC/TC. Results Our first model provided evidence for an inverse correlation (r = –0.23) between ultrasound measured body fat (6 site measurement) and HDLC/TC. The second model noted evidence for an inverse correlation between trunk fat and HDLC/TC and found evidence for the null with respect to the correlation between thigh fat and HDLC/TC. Therefore, we added thigh fat to the null model to produce Distribution Model 2. Within this model, we noted an inverse correlation (r = –0.353) between trunk fat and HDLC/TC. Our last model determined that within the trunk fatness, the abdominal area (anterior trunk) was a larger predictor than the subscapular site (posterior trunk). Conclusion These results support the evidence that ultrasound-measured abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness is a non-invasive predictor for monitoring the risk for dyslipidemia in postmenopausal women.