Echocardiographic epicardial fat thickness and coronary artery disease.
BACKGROUND
The association between epicardial fat and coronary artery disease has not been evaluated. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the relationship of echocardiographic epicardial fat to the presence and severity of coronary artery disease in a clinical setting.


RESULTS
Two hundred and three consecutive patients who underwent echocardiography and diagnostic coronary angiography were studied. The epicardial fat thickness on the free wall of the right ventricle was measured at end-diastole from the parasternal long-axis views of 3 cardiac cycles. Coronary angiograms were analyzed for the extent and severity of coronary artery disease using Gensini's score. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the fourth quartile of epicardial fat thickness (Group I <7.6 mm; Group II > or =7.6 mm). There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics except for waist circumference (p=0.023). Significant correlations were demonstrated between epicardial fat thickness and age (r=0.332, p<0.001), C-reactive protein (r=0.182, p=0.009), body mass index (r=0.142, p=0.044) and waist circumference (r=0.229, p=0.001). The patients with a higher epicardial fat thickness were associated with a high Gensini's score (p=0.014). Multivariate analysis showed that age (odds ratio (OR) 5.29, p=0.003), epicardial fat thickness (OR 10.53, p=0.004), diabetes (OR 8.06, p=0.006) and smoking (OR 14.65, p=0.015) were independent factors affecting significant coronary artery stenosis.


CONCLUSIONS
Epicardial fat thickness was significantly correlated with the severity of coronary artery disease in patients with known coronary artery disease.
Jeong
Jin-Won
JW
Departments of Cardiovascular Medicine, Wonkwang University Hospital, Iksan, Korea.
Jeong
Myung Ho
MH
Yun
Kyeong Ho
KH
Oh
Seok Kyu
SK
Park
Eun Mi
EM
Kim
Yun Kyung
YK
Rhee
Sang Jae
SJ
Lee
Eun Mi
EM
Lee
Je
J
Yoo
Nam Jin
NJ
Kim
Nam-Ho
NH
Park
Jong Chun
JC
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D050154:Adiposity; D000368:Aged; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010496:Pericardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index