Abstract
BACKGROUND: Obesity is a well-known risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Studies have shown that the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), a novel visceral adiposity indicator, is positive associated with the risk of T2DM in the Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between CVAI and incident T2DM in a Japanese population. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of open-access data from a retrospective cohort study. This study included 15,464 participants who received regular medical examinations at Murakami Memorial Hospital. All participants underwent a questionnaire survey, physical examination, and blood biochemical testing at baseline. The main outcome was new-onset T2DM during follow-up. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to analyze the risk of CVAI on T2DM, and we conducted smooth curve fitting. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the predictive value of CVAI, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) for incident T2DM. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of 5.39 years, 373 new-onset T2DM events were observed. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that the incidence of T2DM increased as the CVAI increased (log-rank χ (2) = 187.1076 and 129.6067 in males and females, respectively, both P <0.001). After adjustment for covariates, per 1 increase of CVAI was associated with a 1.0133-fold and 1.0246-fold higher risk of incident T2DM in males and females, respectively (both P <0.001). Those individuals in the top CVAI quartile group had the highest risk of new-onset T2DM (HR = 3.1568 and 5.8415 in males and females, respectively, both P <0.05). A nonlinear relationship was identified by the smooth fitting curve between CVAI and T2DM events in both genders. ROC analysis indicated that CVAI had better predictive power than BMI and WC in both genders. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that CVAI was significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset T2DM in Japanese adults.