Visceral fat area is associated with a high risk for early postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease

Aim Mesenteric hypertrophy has been recognized as an indicator of the complicated course of Crohn's disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the visceral fat area (VFA) is associated with postoperative clinical and endoscopic recurrence. Method Computed tomography was used to measure the subcutaneous fat area and VFA, and the mesenteric fat index (MFI) was defined as the ratio of the VFA to the subcutaneous fat area. Associations between body mass index, subcutaneous fat area, VFA and MFI and postoperative clinical and endoscopic recurrence were investigated. Results The factors associated with postoperative endoscopic recurrence at 6 months after surgery were a high VFA value (P = 0.019) and MFI values above the median (P = 0.008). VFA values were significantly correlated with endoscopic recurrence (r = 0.895, P = 0.040) and endoscopic lesions (r = 0.617, P < 0.0001). Additionally, MFI values correlated well with endoscopic recurrence (r = 0.918, P = 0.02) and endoscopic scores (r = 0.584, P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis indicated that VFA values above the median (hazard ratio 2.63, 95% CI 1.03-6.74) were predictive of postoperative clinical recurrence in Crohn's disease. Conclusion A high VFA value is associated with postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease and has clinical implications with respect to optimizing prophylaxis for each individual. However, further studies are needed to confirm the predictive role of this biomarker in a different data set.