Cardiometabolic risk in overweight subjects with or without relative fat-free mass deficiency: The Strong Heart Study

Relative Fat Free Mass Deficiency is frequent in obese subjects due to abnormal body composition. This study evaluated the impact of RFFMD on cardiometabolic risk in 742 overweight/obese American Indians from the Strong Heart Study population, without diabetes and with FBG <= 110 mg/dL and with GFR >60 mg/mL/1.73 m2. Participants with RFFMD had lower FFM, greater adipose mass, higher body mass index, waist circumference, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, insulin resistance and urinary albumin/creatinine than participants with normal FFM (all p < 0.001); they also had a greater prevalence of hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) or OGTT-diabetes than participants with normal FFM (all p < 0.003) and a near 2-fold greater probability of significant proteinuria (p < 0.01). RFFMD was more frequent in women than in men: significant sex-RFFMD interactions were found for BMI and waist circumference (both p < 0.0001).