Higher visceral adiposity index and lipid accumulation product in relation to increased risk of atherosclerotic burden in community-dwelling older adults

Abstract

Background and aims: Visceral adiposity index (VAI) and lipid accumulation product (LAP), as anthropometric indices, have been applied to predict the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, few studies investigated the correlation between these two indicators and cardio-cerebro-vascular atherosclerosis in community populations. Our study was to explore the association of VAI and LAP with coronary, intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis in a community-based asymptomatic middle-aged and older population.

Methods: Participants without a history of CVD in the study of PRECISE (Polyvascular Evaluation for Cognitive Impairment and Vascular Events) were included. The sex-special indicators of VAI and LAP were calculated and stratified by the tertiles. The presence of plaque and coronary segmental stenosis score (SSS) were assessed by coronary computed tomography (CTA), as well as intracranial and extracranial atherosclerotic burden were evaluated by high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI), respectively. Binary or ordinal logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between each of the indexes and the presence and burden of atherosclerosis.

Results: A total of 2875 subjects were included in the final analysis. The mean age was 60.9 ± 6.6 years and 1329 (46.2 %) participants were males. Compared with the first tertile of VAI, the higher tertile was associated with the presence of plaques (T3 vs T1, OR, 1.49, 95%CI, 1.12-1.98, for males; OR, 1.64, 95%CI, 1.24-2.17, for females) and atherosclerotic burden (T3 vs T1, adjusted cOR, 1.63, 95%CI, 1.24-2.14, for males; adjusted cOR, 1.70, 95%CI, 1.29-2.24, for females) in major coronary arteries. A similar association was found for LAP. VAI level has presented an association with the extracranial atherosclerotic plaques (T3 vs T1, OR, 1.34, 95%CI, 1.02-1.77) and burden (T3 vs T1, adjusted cOR 1.32, 95 % CI 1.00-1.73) only in females. Whereas, for intracranial atherosclerosis, the results failed to show any statistically significant association.

Conclusions: Among community-dwelling asymptomatic older adults, VAI and LAP were associated with the presence and burden of coronary atherosclerotic plaques, while VAI presented a weaker significant association with extracranial atherosclerosis in females.

Keywords: Coronary atherosclerosis; Intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis; Lipid accumulation product; Visceral adiposity index.