ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2014
Adipose tissue density, a novel biomarker predicting mortality risk in older adults.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- Abdominal Visceral Adipose Tissue and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Is Associated With Decreased Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Density in People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021Trial
- CT Fat Density Accurately Reflects Histologic Fat Quality in Adults With HIV On and Off Antiretroviral Therapy.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2019Trial
- Statins Reduce Epicardial Adipose Tissue Attenuation Independent of Lipid Lowering: A Potential Pleiotropic Effect.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2019Trial
- Effect of Pericardial Fat Volume and Density on Markers of Insulin Resistance and Inflammation in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection.The American journal of cardiology · 2017Trial
- GH administration decreases subcutaneous abdominal adipocyte size in men with abdominal obesity.Growth hormone & IGF research : official journal of the Growth Hormone Research Society and the International IGF Research Society · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Computed tomography-derived body composition and early changes predict outcomes of first-line chemo-immunotherapy in recurrent/metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.The oncologist · 2026Article
- Visceral and subcutaneous fat attenuation as prognostic indicators of survival in castration resistant prostate cancer.Prostate international · 2026Article
- Sex-Based Differences in Imaging-Derived Body Composition and Their Association with Clinical Malnutrition in Abdominal Surgery Patients.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Mediterranean Versus Western Diet Effects on Obesity Phenotypes and Adipose Tissue Transcriptional Profiles in Female Monkeys.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2026Article
- Automated CT-based visceral fat density predicts mortality regardless of visceral fat area.The British journal of radiology · 2026Article
- Article
- The Challenges of Postoperative Tissue Flap Vitality Monitoring in Obese Individuals.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Vascular Endothelial NAMPT-Mediated NADAging cell · 2025Article
- Associations between visceral adipose and renal artery calcification: Results from the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.American journal of preventive cardiology · 2025Article
- Development of a sex-specific visceral fat area estimation using discrete multi-wavelength near-infrared spectroscopy measurements in Korean individuals.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Influence of visceral adipose tissue on the accuracy of tumor T-staging of gastric cancer in preoperative CT.Japanese journal of radiology · 2025Article
- Article
- AI-based abdominal CT measurements of orthotopic and ectopic fat predict mortality and cardiometabolic disease risk in adults.European radiology · 2025Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
24 authors at 12 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundKnowledge of adipose composition in relation to mortality may help delineate inconsistent relationships between obesity and mortality in old age. We evaluated relationships between abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) density, mortality, biomarkers, and characteristics.
methodsVAT and SAT density were determined from computed tomography scans in persons aged 65 and older, Health ABC (n = 2,735) and AGES-Reykjavik (n = 5,131), and 24 nonhuman primates (NHPs). Associations between adipose density and mortality (4-13 years follow-up) were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models. In NHPs, adipose density was related to serum markers and tissue characteristics.
resultsHigher density adipose tissue was associated with mortality in both studies with adjustment for risk factors including adipose area, total fat, and body mass index. In women, hazard ratio and 95% CI for the densest quintile (Q5) versus least dense (Q1) for VAT density were 1.95 (1.36-2.80; Health ABC) and 1.88 (1.31-2.69; AGES-Reykjavik) and for SAT density, 1.76 (1.35-2.28; Health ABC) and 1.56 (1.15-2.11; AGES-Reykjavik). In men, VAT density was associated with mortality in Health ABC, 1.52 (1.12-2.08), whereas SAT density was associated with mortality in both Health ABC, 1.58 (1.21-2.07), and AGES-Reykjavik, 1.43 (1.07-1.91). Higher density adipose tissue was associated with smaller adipocytes in NHPs. There were no consistent associations with inflammation in any group. Higher density adipose tissue was associated with lower serum leptin in Health ABC and NHPs, lower leptin mRNA expression in NHPs, and higher serum adiponectin in Health ABC and NHPs.
conclusionVAT and SAT density provide a unique marker of mortality risk that does not appear to be inflammation related.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.