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. 2022 Feb 24;21(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s12933-022-01464-1.

Association of visceral adiposity index with incident nephropathy and retinopathy: a cohort study in the diabetic population

Zhiyuan Wu  1   2 , Siqi Yu  1 , Xiaoping Kang  3 , Yue Liu  1 , Zongkai Xu  1 , Zhiwei Li  1 , Jinqi Wang  1 , Xinlei Miao  1 , Xiangtong Liu  1 , Xia Li  4 , Jingbo Zhang  5 , Wei Wang  2 , Lixin Tao  6 , Xiuhua Guo  7   8
Affiliations

Association of visceral adiposity index with incident nephropathy and retinopathy: a cohort study in the diabetic population

Zhiyuan Wu et al. Cardiovasc Diabetol. .

Abstract

Background: The association between visceral adiposity index (VAI) and diabetic complications has been reported in cross-sectional studies, while the effect of VAI on complication development remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the longitudinal association of VAI and Chinese VAI (CVAI) with the incidence of diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy using a Chinese cohort.

Methods: A total of 8 948 participants with type 2 diabetes from Beijing Health Management Cohort were enrolled during 2013-2014, and followed until December 31, 2019. Nephropathy was confirmed by urine albumin/creatinine ratio and estimated glomerular filtration rate; retinopathy was diagnosed using fundus photograph.

Results: The mean (SD) age was 53.35 (14.66) years, and 6 154 (68.8%) were men. During a median follow-up of 4.82 years, 467 participants developed nephropathy and 90 participants developed retinopathy. One-SD increase in VAI and CVAI levels were significantly associated with an increased risk of nephropathy, and the adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were 1.127 (95% CI 1.050-1.210) and 1.165 (95% CI 1.003-1.353), respectively. On contrary, VAI and CVAI level were not associated with retinopathy after adjusting confounding factors.

Conclusion: VAI and CVAI are independently associated with the development of nephropathy, but not retinopathy in Chinese adults with diabetes.

Keywords: Abdominal obesity; Diabetic nephropathy; Diabetic retinopathy; Visceral adiposity index.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of this current study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Dose–response relationship of baseline VAI and CVAI with incident nephropathy after adjusting for age and sex
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Time-dependent ROC curves of VAI and CVAI for predicting diabetic nephropathy development
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Association of VAI and CVAI with incident nephropathy in sensitivity analyses
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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