Fat around your organs can hurt your heart—even if you're not overweight
471-P: The Visceral Adiposity Index Predicts MACE Both in Cardiovascular Disease Patients with and in Those without Diabetes
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tracked heart patients for nearly 10 years to see who had heart problems. They found that people with more fat around their organs (measured by VAI) had more heart events, even if they didn’t have diabetes. People with diabetes also had more heart events, no matter their fat levels.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tracked heart patients for nearly 10 years to see who had heart problems. They found that people with more fat around their organs (measured by VAI) had more heart events, even if they didn’t have diabetes. People with diabetes also had more heart events, no matter their fat levels.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Related Content
Claims (4)
Having diabetes and having high visceral fat (measured by VAI) each add their own separate risk for heart problems in people with heart disease — knowing one doesn’t tell you everything about the other.
Visceral adiposity is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality, irrespective of total body mass index.
People with heart disease who have more fat around their organs (measured by a simple formula using waist size and blood fats) are more likely to have serious heart problems like heart attacks or strokes, whether or not they have diabetes.
People with heart disease who also have type 2 diabetes are about 55% more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or die from heart problems than those without diabetes — even when you account for other risk factors like weight and cholesterol.