Association of atherogenic indices with metabolically unhealthy obesity phenotype

Background and aims: Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Clinical studies have identified two subtypes of obesity: metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUHO), the latter being associated with an increased risk of mortality from any cause or CV events. Therefore, for better phenotyping, several atherogenic indices such as atherogenic index and lipid accumulation product have been used that can be calculated at the routine control in order to detect people at high cardiovascular risk. Material and method: This was a retrospective study. A total of 163 obese participants (n=118 metabolically unhealthy subjects with a mean ± s.d. body mass index (BMI) of 37.8±5.7 kg/m²) took part in this study. Body composition was assessed by electrical bioimpedance; fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, creatinine, transaminases and serum insulin were obtained using standard protocols. Results: The frequency of metabolic syndrome was 72.8%. Patients with MUHO were significantly older, with a higher weight, BMI, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio compared to MHO. All atherogenic indices were statistically significantly higher in patients with MUHO. Conclusions: We described several clinical parameters that are accessible in medical offices, which can help the clinician in better phenotyping and identifying MUHO, in order to implement preventive measures to reduce cardiovascular risk.