Sex differences in the relation of visceral adipose tissue accumulation to total body fatness.

The associations between the amount of abdominal adipose tissue (AT) measured by computed tomography (CT) or estimated with predictive equations and the amount of total body fat were compared in samples of 89 men and 75 women. After correction for total body fat mass, men had significantly higher values of visceral AT volume (P < 0.0001) and also higher abdominal visceral AT areas, measured by CT or estimated by predictive equations than women (P < 0.0001). In addition, an increase in total fat mass was associated with a significantly greater increase in visceral AT volume in men than in women (P < 0.0001). In conclusion, these results suggest that the greater health hazards associated with excess fatness in men than in women may be explained by the fact that premenopausal women can accumulate more body fat than men of the same age before reaching the amounts of visceral AT found in men.