Epicardial Adipose Tissue Relating to Anthropometrics, Metabolic Derangements and Fatty Liver Disease Independently Contributes to Serum High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Beyond Body Fat Composition: A Study Validated with Computed Tomography

• Published in: Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 234 - 241
• Main Authors: Lai, Yau-Huei, MD, Yun, Chun-Ho, MD, Yang, Fei-Shih, MD, Liu, Chuan-Chuan, MD, Wu, Yih-Jer, MD, PhD, Kuo, Jen-Yuan, MD, Yeh, Hung-I., MD, PhD, Lin, Tin-Yu, MD, Bezerra, Hiram G., MD, PhD, Shih, Shou-Chuan, MD, Tsai, Cheng-Ho, MD, Hung, Chung-Lieh, MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Mosby, Inc 01.02.2012
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - diagnostic imaging; Anthropometry; Biomarkers - blood; Body Fat Distribution - methods; C-Reactive Protein - analysis; Cardiovascular; Comorbidity; Echocardiography; Epicardial fat; Fatty Liver - diagnostic imaging; Fatty Liver - epidemiology; Fatty liver disease; Female; Humans; Inflammation; Male; Metabolic syndrome; Metabolic Syndrome - diagnostic imaging; Metabolic Syndrome - epidemiology; Middle Aged; Pericardium - diagnostic imaging; Prevalence; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Statistics as Topic; Taiwan - epidemiology; Ultrasonography; Computed tomographic; CT; Echocardiography; Fatty liver disease; MS; hsCRP; EAT; Inflammation; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; Metabolic syndrome; Epicardial fat; Epicardial adipose tissue
• ISSN: 0894-7317; 1097-6795
• DOI: 10.1016/j.echo.2011.09.018

Background Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) measured by echocardiography has been proposed to be associated with metabolic syndrome and increased cardiovascular risks. However, its independent association with fatty liver disease and systemic inflammation beyond clinical variables and body fat remains less well known. Methods The relationships between EAT and various factors of metabolic derangement were retrospectively examined in consecutive 359 asymptomatic subjects (mean age, 51.6 years; 31% women) who participated in a cardiovascular health survey. Echocardiography-derived regional EAT thickness from parasternal long-axis and short-axis views was quantified. A subset of data from 178 randomly chosen participants were validated using 16-slice multidetector computed tomography. Body fat composition was evaluated using bioelectrical impedance from foot-to-foot measurements. Results Increased EAT was associated with increased waist circumference, body weight, and body mass index (all P values for trend = .005). Graded increases in serum fasting glucose, insulin resistance, and alanine transaminase levels were observed across higher EAT tertiles as well as a graded decrease of high-density lipoprotein (all P values for trend <.05). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for identifying metabolic syndrome and fatty liver disease were 0.8 and 0.77, with odds ratio estimated at 3.65 and 2.63, respectively. In a multivariate model, EAT remained independently associated with higher high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and fatty liver disease. Conclusions These data suggested that echocardiography-based epicardial fat measurement can be clinically feasible and was related to several metabolic abnormalities and independently associated fatty liver disease. In addition, EAT amount may contribute to systemic inflammation beyond traditional cardiovascular risks and body fat composition.