Visceral fat area is the measure of obesity best associated with mobility disability in community dwelling oldest-old Chinese adults

BACKGROUND: Although obesity can be clinically defined by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, percent body fat, or visceral fat area, it is unclear which specific measure is best associated with mobility disability in oldest-old adults. METHODS: Among 589 Chinese participants aged 85 years and older in a population-based cohort in Singapore, we measured waist circumference, computed BMI, estimated appendicular skeletal muscle mass, percent body fat, and visceral fat area using bioelectrical impedance analysis, and evaluated mobility disability using the Loco-Check questionnaire. We computed areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC(ROC)) to compare how well these measures discriminated between those with and without mobility disability. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between obesity defined by these measures and mobility disability. RESULTS: Compared to BMI, which had an AUC(ROC) (95% CI) of 0.68 (0.64–0.72) for the discrimination of mobility disability, only visceral fat area had a significantly higher discriminative performance [AUC(ROC) (95% CI) of 0.71 (0.67–0.75) (P(adjusted) = 0.002)]. The optimal cut-offs of visceral fat area for the discrimination of mobility disability were ≥ 104 cm(2) in men and ≥ 137 cm(2) in women. In fully adjusted models, only obesity defined by visceral fat area was significantly associated with mobility disability [OR (95% CI) of 2.04 (1.10–3.77)]; obesity defined by the other measures were not associated with mobility disability after adjusting for visceral fat. CONCLUSION: In oldest-old adults, visceral fat area was the best discriminator for obesity associated with mobility disability. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02226-6.