Original scientific paper
Subcutaneous Fat Patterns in Type-2 Diabetic Men and Healthy Controls
Erwin Tafeit
Renate Horejsi
Thomas Rudolf Pieber
Regina Elisabeth Roller
Wolfgang Johann Schnedl
Sandra Johanna Wallner
Toivo Jurimae
Reinhard Möller
Abstract
The optical device LIPOMETER enables the non-invasive, quick, and save determination of the thickness of subcutaneous
adipose tissue layers at any given site of the human body. The specification of 15 evenly distributed body sites allows
the precise measurement of subcutaneous body fat distribution, so-called subcutaneous adipose tissue topography
(SAT-Top). In the present paper we focus on SAT-Top of male type-2 diabetes patients (N=21), describing very precisely
their special SAT development and their SAT-Top deviation from a healthy control group (N=111), applying factor analysis
and ROC curves. Factor analysis revealed three independent subcutaneous body fat compartments, which can be
summarised as »upper body«, »lower trunk« and »legs«. The upper body SAT-Top is much more pronounced in diabetic
men compared to their healthy controls (p<0.001). Furthermore, high diagnostic power by ROC curve analysis was achieved
by different measurement sites of the upper body and summary measures of upper body obesity (sum2, which is the
sum of neck and biceps, provides: area index = 0.86, sensitivity = 81 %, specificity = 90.1 %, at an optimal cutoff value of
18.8 mm), ascribing a higher diabetes probability to subjects with a more upper body SAT-Top pattern. Calculating new
ROC curves for diabetic patients with HBA1C values >8 (N=17) and their healthy controls (N=111) we received improved
discrimination power for several SAT-Top body sites, especially for sum2, showing an area index of 0.91, a sensitivity
of 94.1 %, and a specificity of 90.1 % at the optimal cutoff value of 18.8 mm. Concluding, the exact and complete description
of the especial type 2 diabetic SAT pattern, which differs strongly from the SAT-Top of healthy controls, suggests the
LIPOMETER technique combined with advanced statistical methods such as factor analysis and ROC curve analysis as
a possible detecting tool for this disease.
Keywords
fat distribution; body composition; lipometer; subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top); metabolic disorders
Hrčak ID:
27198
URI
Publication date:
7.7.2008.
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