Abdominal skeletal muscle quality and quantity are independently and jointly associated with cardiometabolic health in children.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the independent and joint associations between intermuscular abdominal adipose tissue and abdominal skeletal muscle tissue with cardiometabolic health indicators in children.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 114 children (10.6 ± 1.1 y, 54% girls) and 56 children (11.3 ± 1.5 y, 39% girls) from two cohorts. Total abdominal area (TAA), intermuscular abdominal adipose tissue (IMAAT) and abdominal skeletal muscular tissue (AMT) were measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Cardiometabolic health was evaluated by triglycerides-to-HDL ratio (TG/HDL), mean arterial pressure (MAP), HOMA-IR and metabolic syndrome z-score (MetSynd).

RESULTS

IMAAT was associated with higher MetSynd regardless of total adiposity in both cohorts (P < 0.05). In the EFIGRO project, the associations of IMAAT with HOMA-IR and TG/HDL ratio were independent of total adiposity (P < 0.05). The relationship of IMAAT with MAP was attenuated after controlling for total adiposity in both cohorts (P < 0.09). The AMT/TAA ratio was inversely associated with the TG/HDL ratio, MAP, HOMA-IR, and MetSynd in both cohorts (P < 0.01). Joint associations showed that children with high IMAAT and low AMT/TAA ratio had significantly higher HOMA-IR (P < 0.01) and MetSynd (P < 0.05) than those with low IMAAT and high AMT/TAA ratio in both cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS

Both high IMAAT and low AMT are associated to poor cardiometabolic health already in childhood.