Abdominal obesity is associated with arterial stiffness in middle-aged adults

•Visceral fat is associated with artery stiffness in midlife, beyond that of generalized adiposity.•Cardiovascular fitness is linked with lower whole-body adiposity but not with abdominal obesity.•Better cardiovascular profile is related to both lower arterial stiffness and visceral fat mass.

Background and aimsThe relation between adiposity and arterial stiffness remains controversial. We determined whether abdominal and visceral adipose tissue may be a better predictor of arterial stiffness than general obesity in middle-aged adults.Methods and resultsA total of 146 participants (76 men, 70 women; 50 years) were studied. The automatic vascular screening device (Omron VP-1000plus) was used to measure blood pressure simultaneously in the arms and ankles and to determine arterial stiffness by pulse wave velocity (PWV). Using multiple linear regressions, the relations between indicators of obesity and arterial stiffness were examined after adjustment for confounders. Both carotid-femoral PWV and brachial-ankle PWV were significantly associated with BMI (both P < 0.05) but not with body fat percentage. Measures of abdominal obesity, including waist circumference and visceral fat mass (via DXA), were strongly associated with PWV and remained positively associated with arterial stiffness after adjustment for age and gender. Cardiovascular fitness as assessed by maximal oxygen consumption was related to body fat percentage but not with visceral fat. More favorable cardiovascular health profile was associated with both lower visceral fat mass and PWV (both P < 0.001).ConclusionAbdominal obesity and visceral fat are associated with large artery stiffness. These findings support the importance of adiposity measures as a risk factor for arterial stiffening in middle-aged adults.