ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1590979
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the Interplay Between Nutrition, Trace Elements, and Cardiovascular HealthView all articles
Association between Relative Fat Mass and Cardiovascular Disease: A Cross Sectional Study Based on NHANES
Provisionally accepted
- 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
- 2Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China
- 3The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, guang zhou, China
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Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represent a primary factor contributing to death worldwide. Conventional indicators of obesity, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, body mass index (BMI), have limitations in differentiating between fat and muscle mass. Relative fat mass (RFM), a novel metric based on waist to height ratio, has been proposed as a more accurate measure of total body fat percentage. This research examines the relationship between RFM and CVD, utilizing data sourced from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Methods: This cross sectional study utilized data sourced from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2018. Participants with unavailable data on waist circumference, height, CVD complications, or total cholesterol were excluded. A total of 45,000 participants were included and divided into quartiles based on RFM values. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the association between RFM and CVD. Moreover, analyses including subgroup evaluations, smooth curve modeling, and testing for interactions were conducted.Results: The prevalence of CVD was 10.42%(4691) among the 45,000 participants.Fully adjusted models showed a significant positive association between RFM and CVD (OR = 1.04; 95% CI = 1.03-1.05; P < 0.001). Participants in the highest RFM quartile(Q4) had a 2.11 fold increased risk of CVD compared to those in the lowest quartile (OR = 2.11; 95% CI = 1.76-2.53; P < 0.001). Subgroup analyses indicated that the association was stronger in individuals aged < 60 years, nonHispanic Whites, and those with BMI < 30 kg/m². Conclusions: Elevated RFM is associated with an higher proportion of patients with CVD, suggesting that RFM may be a valuable indicator for CVD prevention and management. Future prospective studies are warranted to further explore the causal relationship between RFM and CVD.
Keywords: Relative fat mass, cardiovascular disease, Obesity, NHANES, Waist-to-height ratio
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Bin Zhang, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Gaoxing Zhang, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 529030, Guangdong, China
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