OVERVIEW
Overview
A type of obesity in which the patient’s body fat deposits are centered around the abdomen.
Department of Medicine
Endocrinology, Internal Medicine.
Part of the body
Abdomen
Common Diseases
Obesity
Examination
Physical examination, anthropometrics, X-ray, CT, MRI, etc.
Questions you may be concerned about
What is abdominal obesity
Abdominal obesity is mainly due to excessive fat that accumulates in and around the abdomen, thus showing an apple-shaped body such as beer belly and potbelly.
Abdominal obesity belongs to a kind of morbid obesity, also called centripetal obesity or central obesity, a large amount of fat accumulates in the abdomen and around the body, thus manifesting itself as obesity of the waist, hip and abdomen, this kind of people’s visceral fat is more, especially the liver and stomach and intestines and their surroundings, suffering from hypertension, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, as well as hyperlipidemia, and other diseases of a significantly higher likelihood.
Abdominal obesity male waist circumference greater than or equal to 102 centimeters, female greater than or equal to 88 centimeters. Or waist circumference than hip circumference, men greater than 1.0, women greater than 0.9, called abdominal obesity.
The main reasons for the formation of this body type are: too little exercise, too much food, or long time intake of high calorie, high sugar, high cholesterol, high fat food, and then fat deposits in the abdomen.
In your daily life, you should pay attention to a light diet, do not eat full, drink more water, eat less spicy and stimulating food, and exercise more, which can reduce abdominal fat and improve your physical fitness.
Causes
Common Causes
Heredity; eating too much and moving too little, sedentary, drinking alcohol, fat metabolism disorder, etc.
Examination
Physical examination
Waist circumference over 90 centimeters (male) or 80 centimeters (female), waist-to-hip ratio over 0.9 (male) or 0.8 (female).
Imaging
Abdominal CT and MRI are helpful in the assessment of subcutaneous abdominal fat and intra-abdominal fat volume.
Other tests
Skin crease calipers measure subcutaneous fat thickness. Since 1/2 to 2/3 of the total body fat is stored under the skin, measurement of subcutaneous fat thickness is representative, easy and reproducible. The commonly used measurement sites are outside the deltoid muscle and under the angle of the scapula. Adults can be diagnosed as obese if the two measurements add up to ≥4 cm in men and ≥5 cm in women. Multiple measurements are more reliable.
Diagnosis
Diagnostic principles
Obesity is easier to diagnose based on physical examination findings, combined with imaging. During the diagnostic process, the causes of abdominal obesity should be explored.
Differential diagnosis
It should be differentiated from generalized homogeneous obesity. Generalized homogeneous obesity, also known as peripheral obesity, the patient’s body fat deposition is basically a homogeneous distribution, limb fat is also increased.
Medical treatment
Treatment principle
Emphasis on behavior, diet, exercise-based comprehensive treatment, should actively treat the primary disease. Severe obesity non-surgical treatment is ineffective, accompanied by obesity-related diseases, surgical treatment can be considered.