title: Prevalence, distribution, and risk factor correlates of high thoracic periaortic fat in the Framingham Heart Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Thoracic periaortic adipose tissue (TAT) is associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and may play a role in obesity-mediated vascular disease. We sought to determine the prevalence, distribution, and risk factor correlates of high TAT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants from the Framingham Heart Study (n=3246, 48% women, mean age 51.1 years) underwent multidetector computed tomography; high TAT and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were defined on the basis of sex-specific 90th percentiles in a healthy referent sample. The prevalence of high TAT was 38.1% in women and 35.7% in men. Among individuals without high VAT, 10.1% had high TAT. After adjustment for age and VAT, both women and men with high TAT in the absence of high VAT were older and had a higher prevalence of CVD (P<0.0001) compared with those without high TAT. In addition, men in this group were more likely to be smokers (P=0.02), whereas women were more likely to have low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individuals in our community-based sample with high TAT in the absence of high VAT were characterized by an adverse cardiometabolic profile. This adipose tissue phenotype may identify a subset of individuals with distinct metabolic characteristics.
authors: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Kathryn A
authors: KA
authors: Britton
authors: Alison
authors: A
authors: Pedley
authors: Joseph M
authors: JM
authors: Massaro
authors: Erin M
authors: EM
authors: Corsini
authors: Joanne M
authors: JM
authors: Murabito
authors: Udo
authors: U
authors: Hoffmann
authors: Caroline S
authors: CS
authors: Fox
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000473:pathology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: body fat distribution; obesity; perivascular adipose tissue; risk factors; visceral adipose tissue