The Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) As a Predictor of Diabetes Mellitus: Evidence from the 2011-2018 NHANES Study

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2025 Feb 11

PMID 39932909

Authors

Harshita Tripathi

Amandeep Singh

Farheen

Bindu Prakash

Dharmendra Kumar Dubey

Prayas Sethi

Ranveer Singh Jadon

Piyush Ranjan

Naval K Vikram

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Introduction: With 42.4% of obese US population, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing. Visceral fat, even at the same body mass index, has significant deleterious effects. This study aims to investigate the association between the Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) and DM.

Methods: The study utilized data from NHANES dataset, covering cycles from 2011 to 2018. Multivariate logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis assessed the association between METS-VF and DM. Additionally, the study compared visceral adipose tissue (VAT) measurement indices to METS-VF for the prediction of DM.

Results: In 3,445 participants, METS-VF was positively associated with diabetes [(OR 6.8; 95% CI 5.3-8.6) (AUC 0.791; 95% CI 0.768-0.814)], the association increased across quartiles (METS-VF >6.5; OR 53.8; 95% CI 0.17-169).METS-VF significantly identifies diabetes compared to other VAT indices (LAP, VAI, waist circumference, and WHtR). Additionally premenopausal females with BMI >25 and METS-VF >6.5 are at a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Conclusion: METS-VF positively associates with the prevalence of diabetes. It is an effective score compared to surrogate markers for VAT measurement. Routine screening of VAT using METS-VF score could be implemented in daily clinical settings and large-scale epidemiological studies to help identify early diabetes.

References

Berg A, Scherer P . Adipose tissue, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Circ Res. 2005; 96(9):939-49. DOI: 10.1161/01.RES.0000163635.62927.34. View

Liu J, Fan D, Wang X, Yin F . Association of two novel adiposity indicators with visceral fat area in type 2 diabetic patients: Novel adiposity indexes for type 2 diabetes. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020; 99(19):e20046. PMC: 7220767. DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000020046. View

Afshin A, Forouzanfar M, Reitsma M, Sur P, Estep K, Lee A . Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years. N Engl J Med. 2017; 377(1):13-27. PMC: 5477817. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1614362. View

Brown J, Harhay M, Harhay M . Anthropometrically-predicted visceral adipose tissue and mortality among men and women in the third national health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES III). Am J Hum Biol. 2016; 29(1). PMC: 5241265. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22898. View

Feng Y, Yang X, Li Y, Wu Y, Han M, Qie R . Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat: a novel predictor for the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Br J Nutr. 2021; 128(6):1029-1036. DOI: 10.1017/S0007114521004116. View

Wu Z, Yu S, Kang X, Liu Y, Xu Z, Li Z . Association of visceral adiposity index with incident nephropathy and retinopathy: a cohort study in the diabetic population. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2022; 21(1):32. PMC: 8876445. DOI: 10.1186/s12933-022-01464-1. View

Bello-Chavolla O, Antonio-Villa N, Vargas-Vazquez A, Viveros-Ruiz T, Almeda-Valdes P, Gomez-Velasco D . Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF), a novel estimator of intra-abdominal fat content and cardio-metabolic health. Clin Nutr. 2019; 39(5):1613-1621. DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2019.07.012. View

Neeland I, Ross R, Despres J, Matsuzawa Y, Yamashita S, Shai I . Visceral and ectopic fat, atherosclerosis, and cardiometabolic disease: a position statement. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2019; 7(9):715-725. DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(19)30084-1. View

Kotani K, Tokunaga K, Fujioka S, Kobatake T, Keno Y, Yoshida S . Sexual dimorphism of age-related changes in whole-body fat distribution in the obese. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1994; 18(4):207-2. View

10.

Malone J, Hansen B . Does obesity cause type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)? Or is it the opposite?. Pediatr Diabetes. 2018; 20(1):5-9. DOI: 10.1111/pedi.12787. View

11.

Kovacs P, Stumvoll M . Fatty acids and insulin resistance in muscle and liver. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2005; 19(4):625-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.beem.2005.07.003. View

12.

Lara-Castro C, Weinsier R, Hunter G, Desmond R . Visceral adipose tissue in women: longitudinal study of the effects of fat gain, time, and race. Obes Res. 2002; 10(9):868-74. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2002.119. View

13.

Hardy O, Czech M, Corvera S . What causes the insulin resistance underlying obesity?. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2012; 19(2):81-7. PMC: 4038351. DOI: 10.1097/MED.0b013e3283514e13. View

14.

. Abridged for Primary Care Providers. Clin Diabetes. 2022; 40(1):10-38. PMC: 8865785. DOI: 10.2337/cd22-as01. View

15.

Chen P, Hou X, Hu G, Wei L, Jiao L, Wang H . Abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue: a favorable adipose depot for diabetes?. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2018; 17(1):93. PMC: 6020307. DOI: 10.1186/s12933-018-0734-8. View

16.

Omura-Ohata Y, Son C, Makino H, Koezuka R, Tochiya M, Tamanaha T . Efficacy of visceral fat estimation by dual bioelectrical impedance analysis in detecting cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 2 diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2019; 18(1):137. PMC: 6805489. DOI: 10.1186/s12933-019-0941-y. View

17.

Imran S, Agarwal G, Bajaj H, Ross S . Targets for Glycemic Control. Can J Diabetes. 2018; 42 Suppl 1:S42-S46. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcjd.2017.10.030. View

18.

Abdul-Ghani M, DeFronzo R . Pathogenesis of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2010; 2010:476279. PMC: 2860140. DOI: 10.1155/2010/476279. View

19.

Kwon H, Pessin J . Adipokines mediate inflammation and insulin resistance. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2013; 4:71. PMC: 3679475. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2013.00071. View

20.

Feng L, Chen T, Wang X, Xiong C, Chen J, Wu S . Metabolism Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF): A New Predictive Surrogate for CKD Risk. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2022; 15:2249-2258. PMC: 9346409. DOI: 10.2147/DMSO.S370222. View