Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
Xuzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xuzhou, China.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 13;14(1):23923. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-73864-0.
Obesity has become a global public health problem, and its relationship with gastrointestinal diseases has become a major concern. The visceral adiposity index (VAI) is a novel index to assess the distribution and content of visceral fat, and this study aimed to investigate the association between VAI and bowel habits (chronic diarrhea, chronic constipation) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset was used for the cross-sectional survey. Bowel habits and IBD were defined by self-report. Multiple logistic regression models were used to test the linear association of VAI with bowel habits and IBD. Fitted smoothed curves and threshold effects analyses were used to characterize nonlinear relationships. This cross-sectional study included 10,391 adults (≥ 20 years). After adjusting for covariates, there was a significant negative association between VAI and chronic constipation (OR [95% CI]: 0.97 [0.95, 1.00]) but no significant association with IBD (OR [95% CI]: 0.97 [0.87, 1.07]). Additionally, there was a nonlinear association between VAI and chronic diarrhea with a breakpoint of 3.08, with a positive correlation between the two on the left side of the breakpoint and no statistical significance on the right side. Subgroup analyses and interaction tests showed that maintaining sleep health was associated with a low risk of chronic constipation. Elevated VAI levels were negatively associated with chronic constipation, and elevated levels were positively associated with chronic diarrhea at VAI < 3.08. This reminds us that maintaining moderate levels of visceral fat may prevent the onset of chronic constipation and circumvent the risk of chronic diarrhea. Notably, maintaining healthy sleep may play a positive role in reducing chronic constipation.
肥胖已成为全球公共卫生问题，其与胃肠道疾病的关系成为关注焦点。内脏脂肪指数（VAI）是一种评估内脏脂肪分布和含量的新指标，本研究旨在探讨 VAI 与肠道习惯（慢性腹泻、慢性便秘）和炎症性肠病（IBD）之间的关系。本横断面研究使用了 2005-2010 年全国健康和营养调查（NHANES）数据集。肠道习惯和 IBD 通过自我报告定义。采用多因素逻辑回归模型检验 VAI 与肠道习惯和 IBD 的线性关联。拟合平滑曲线和阈值效应分析用于描述非线性关系。本研究纳入了 10391 名成年人（≥20 岁）。调整混杂因素后，VAI 与慢性便秘呈显著负相关（OR [95%CI]：0.97 [0.95, 1.00]），但与 IBD 无显著关联（OR [95%CI]：0.97 [0.87, 1.07]）。此外，VAI 与慢性腹泻之间存在非线性关联，拐点为 3.08，拐点左侧两者呈正相关，右侧无统计学意义。亚组分析和交互检验显示，保持睡眠健康与慢性便秘风险降低相关。VAI 水平升高与慢性便秘呈负相关，VAI<3.08 时与慢性腹泻呈正相关。这提醒我们，保持适量的内脏脂肪可能有助于预防慢性便秘的发生，并规避慢性腹泻的风险。值得注意的是，保持健康的睡眠可能对减少慢性便秘起到积极作用。
