METS-VF Score: A Promising Tool for Early Diabetes Detection, Indian Study Finds
India: A recent study based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2018 highlights the effectiveness of the Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) in predicting diabetes mellitus. The study, published in PLoS ONE, found that METS-VF is a strong predictor of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), outperforming conventional obesity markers.
The prevalence of LVH increased progressively across METS-VF quartiles, ranging from 7.9% to 31%. Higher METS-VF levels were associated with a nearly tenfold greater risk of developing LVH (OR: 9.79). These findings suggest that METS-VF could be a valuable tool for early cardiac risk assessment in T2DM patients.
The researchers note that visceral fat, which accumulates around internal organs, is a well-established risk factor for metabolic disorders, including diabetes. With obesity affecting 42.4% of the U.S. population, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) continues to rise, highlighting the need for effective assessment tools. Traditional methods for measuring visceral adipose tissue (VAT), such as imaging techniques, are often costly and impractical for routine use. The METS-VF offers a simple yet effective alternative by integrating metabolic parameters to estimate VAT levels.
Against the above background, Amandeep Singh, Affiliation Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India, and colleagues investigated the association between METS-VF and the risk of developing DM, emphasizing its potential as a practical tool for early risk assessment.
For this purpose, the researchers analyzed data from the NHANES dataset, spanning the 2011–2018 cycles. They employed multivariate logistic regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis to evaluate the association between METS-VF and DM. Furthermore, they compared various VAT measurement indices with METS-VF to assess its predictive ability for DM.
The study led to the following findings:
- Among 3,445 participants, METS-VF showed a strong positive association with diabetes (OR: 6.8) with an AUC of 0.791.
- The association between METS-VF and diabetes increased across quartiles, with METS-VF >6.5 linked to significantly higher risk (OR: 53.8).
- METS-VF demonstrated superior ability in identifying diabetes compared to other visceral adipose tissue (VAT) indices, including lipid accumulation product (LAP), visceral adiposity index (VAI), waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).
- Premenopausal females with a BMI >25 and METS-VF >6.5 had an elevated risk of developing diabetes.
The researchers found a strong association between METS-VF and the prevalence of diabetes, highlighting its effectiveness as a tool for visceral adipose tissue measurement. Compared to other surrogate markers, METS-VF demonstrated superior predictive ability, making it a valuable option for routine clinical assessments.
"Given its reliability across different demographic and lifestyle factors, integrating METS-VF into daily practice and large-scale epidemiological studies could aid in the early identification of individuals at risk of diabetes, enabling timely intervention and improved disease management," they concluded.
Reference:
Tripathi, H., Singh, A., Prakash, B., Dubey, D. K., Sethi, P., Jadon, R. S., Ranjan, P., & Vikram, N. K. (2025). The Metabolic Score for Visceral Fat (METS-VF) as a predictor of diabetes mellitus: Evidence from the 2011–2018 NHANES study. PLOS ONE, 20(2), e0317913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317913
