Increased Epicardial Fat Thickness Is Associated with Cardiac Functional Changes in Healthy Women

Increased Epicardial Fat Thickness Is Associated with Cardiac Functional Changes in Healthy Women

BARIS KILICASLAN¹, ONER OZDOGAN¹, MEHMET AYDIN¹, HUSEYIN DURSUN¹, IBRAHIM SUSAM¹ and FARUK ERTAS²

¹Department of Cardiology, Tepecik Research and Training Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
²Departmet of Cardiology, Dicle University Medical Faculty, Diyarbakir, Turkey

Epicardial fat tissue is a visceral fat depot with anatomical and functional contiguity to the myocardium and coronary arteries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and cardiac changes in healthy female subjects. The study population consisted of ninety-six consecutive healthy female (mean age 31.1 ± 6.7 years) who underwent transthoracic echocardiography. EFT was measured by echocardiography. Subjects were divided into two groups according to the EFT; EFT < 6 mm and EFT ≥ 6 mm. The cardiac structural changes, increased left atrial volume indices (LAVI) (41.2 ± 9.9 vs. 52.6 ± 12.5, p = 0.001) and left ventricular mass indices (LVMI) (129.6 ± 32.1 vs. 155.6 ± 31.6 p < 0.05), were observed in patients with increased EFT. Myocardial tei index (MTI), which was used to evaluate both systolic and diastolic functions, was higher with increased EFT (0.44 ± 0.07 vs. 0.48 ± 0.08, p = 0.02). The correlation analysis revealed significant correlation between EFT and each of LAVI (r = 0.312, p = 0.002), LVMI (r = 0.301, p = 0.003), body mass index (BMI) (r = 0.8, p < 0.001), and MTI (r = 0.27, p = 0.005). Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that EFT was associated with BMI (t = 5.28, p = 0.001), MTI (r = 2.39, p = 0.019), LVMI (r = 2.16, p = 0.01), and LAVI (r = 3.21, p = 0.002). In conclusion, EFT is an important predictor of cardiac alterations in women who are prone to obesity.

keywords —— epicardial fat tissue; left atrial volume index; left ventricular mass index; metabolic syndrome; myocardial Tei index

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2012, 228, 119-124

Correspondence: Baris Kilicaslan, M.D., Department of Cardiology, Tepecik Research and Training Hospital, Manavkuyu mahallesi 249/4 sok. no: 2 A blok D: 16 Bayrakli, Izmir 35030, Turkey.

e-mail: kilicaslanbaris@yahoo.com