[Effects of sibutramine on blood glucose and lipids, body fat mass and insulin resistance in obese patients: a multi-center clinical trial].

Objective: To evaluate the effects of sibutramine on body weight, body fat mass, metabolism of plasma glucose and serum lipids, and insulin resistance (IR) in primary obesity patients.

Methods: A double-blind, double-placebo, randomized controlled, multi-center clinical trial was conducted. 359 voluntary obese subjects, whose body mass index (BMI) > or = 27 kg/m(2), without hypertension and diabetes, were enrolled.

[Body fat distribution: its characteristics and relationship to cardiovascular risk factors in obese Chinese].

Objective: To investigate the distribution of body fat and analyze its characteristics and relationship with metabolic variables in obese Chinese.

Methods: In this observational, cross sectional study, the total body fat mass was measured using body mass index (BMI), and as an index of intra-abdominal fat accumulation, the ratio of the visceral (VA) to abdominal subcutaneous (SA) adipose area (VSR) was determined using a computed tomography (CT) scans made at the level of L4/L5 in 309 obese human subjects (male 88; female 221). Blood pressure (BP), fasting serum lipids such as triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein(HDL-c), low density lipoprotein (LDL-c), and serum uric acid (UA) were also determined.