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Effect of fat deposition on the atherogenic index of plasma in postmenopausal females
MIAO Miao  HAN Xintian  GAO Lei  LIU Ying  ZHANG Wei  ZHAO Jian 

Cite this article as: MIAO M, HAN X T, GAO L, et al. Effect of fat deposition on the atherogenic index of plasma in postmenopausal females[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(9): 42-48. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.006.


[Abstract] Objective To investigate the impact of fat deposition in various depots on the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) among middle-aged and elderly postmenopausal females.Materials and Methods A prospective observational study was conducted, enrolling 102 postmenopausal middle-aged and elderly females who visited our hospital between December 2022 and June 2024. Clinical and biochemical data were collected. Quantitative CT was used to measure the visceral fat area (VFA), subcutaneous fat area (SFA), and paraspinal muscle (erector spinae and multifidus muscles, psoas major) fat area to calculate the fat fraction (FF) at the level of the third lumbar vertebra. The CT values of skeletal muscles at the same level were also measured. MRI mDixon-quant sequences were employed to assess the proton density fat fraction (PDFF) of the liver, pancreas, and lumbar bone marrow. Clinical data and fat content of different depots were compared between the low and high AIP groups, logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the factors influencing AIP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were applied to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of each parameter in identifying the high AIP phenotype.Results The high-AIP group exhibited significantly higher BMI, VFA, and liver PDFF compared to the low-AIP group (P < 0.05). Both VFA (OR = 1.020, 95% CI: 1.005 to 1.036) and liver PDFF (OR = 1.241, 95% CI: 1.081 to 1.424) were identified as independent risk factors for high AIP. The diagnostic performance of liver PDFF in diagnosing high AIP is superior to that of BMI (P = 0.044). Both liver PDFF and VFA showed good diagnostic efficacy for high AIP, with area under the curve (AUC) of 0.823 and 0.788, respectively. The cutoff values were 4.58% for liver PDFF and 127.6 cm2 for VFA, with corresponding sensitivities of 82.1% and 96.4%, and specificities of 77.0% and 50.0%, respectively. Furthermore, a combined model integrating VFA and liver PDFF significantly improved the ability to predict high AIP, with an AUC of 0.847, a sensitivity of 92.9%, and a specificity of 63.5%.Conclusions VFA and liver PDFF are independent risk factors for elevated AIP in postmenopausal females. Compared with BMI, imaging-based quantitative assessment of fat provides a more accurate prediction of high-risk populations for atherosclerosis.
[Keywords] atherogenic index of plasma；postmenopausal females；fat deposition；body composition analysis；quantitative computed tomography；mDixon-Quant

MIAO Miao   HAN Xintian   GAO Lei   LIU Ying   ZHANG Wei   ZHAO Jian*  

Department of Medical Imaging, Hebei Medical University Third Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050051, China

Corresponding author: ZHAO J, E-mail: 37400408@hebmu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2025-09-03
Accepted  2025-11-06
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.006
Cite this article as: MIAO M, HAN X T, GAO L, et al. Effect of fat deposition on the atherogenic index of plasma in postmenopausal females[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(9): 42-48. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.09.006.

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