Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study
Visceral adiposity index and the risk of heart failure, late-life cardiac structure, and function in Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study
- Prospective cohort study
Authors' conclusion
This study shows that higher VAI was independently associated with the increased risk of incident HF and abnormal LV geometry and LV diastolic dysfunction.
Study context
- Population
- ARIC participants free of heart failure (HF) and CHD at baseline (1987–89)4,817 with echocardiography
- Participants
- 12,161 participants
- Exposure
- Higher vs lower visceral adiposity index
- Outcome
- Incident HF
- Follow-up
- Median 22.5 years
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Hazard ratio (95% CI)
Per 1 unit VAI increaseadjusted for traditional HF risk factors
1.08(1.06–1.11)
Second tertile vs Lowest tertile
1.19(1.05–1.34)
Third tertile vs Lowest tertile
1.42(1.26–1.61)
- Participants developing HF
- 1904 (15.7%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
HF subtypes
- Higher visceral adiposity index (VAI) associated with HFpEF only, not HFrEF
Left ventricular (LV) geometry and function
- Greater VAI associated with worse LV diastolic function and abnormal LV geometry (concentric remodelling, concentric hypertrophy, eccentric hypertrophy)
Original publication
Visceral adiposity index and the risk of heart failure, late-life cardiac structure, and function in ARIC study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 10 April 2023. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwad099
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it