The Relationship between Epicardial Fat Thickness and Endothelial Dysfunction in Type I Diabetes Mellitus.
OBJECTIVE
Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a new independent marker of coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between epicardial fat thickness (EFT) and endothelial dysfunction (ED) in patients with type I diabetes mellitus (TIDM).


RESULTS
Seventy-six type I diabetic patients (diabetes duration 11.7 ± 8,1 years, aged 30.6 ± 10 years; female/male: 38/38) and 36 healthy controls were enrolled into the study. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), lipid panel, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and fibrinogen levels were determined. EFT was measured via two-dimensional (2D) M-mode echocardiography. Endothelial function was assessed as flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) at the brachial artery using high-resolution ultrasound. EFT was significantly higher in patients compared to controls (3.56 ± 0.48 mm vs. 3.03 ± 0.48 mm, P < 0.001). In addition, significant differences were observed between the patient and control groups in terms of FMD (6.70% ± 1.63 vs. 9.99% ± 1.84, respectively, P < 0.001). EFT was shown to be correlated negatively with FMD (r: -0.94, P < 0.001) and positively with hsCRP (r: 0.41, P < 0.001) and fibrinogen (r: 0. 31, P = 0.007). Multiple regression analysis showed EFT to be an independent factor influencing the endothelial function.


CONCLUSIONS
There was inverse relationship between EFT and endothelial function in this study. EFT measured easily by transthoracic echocardiography may be a useful parameter in the assessment of patients with TIDM.
Department of Cardiology, Ankara Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Abdullah Nabi
AN
Aslan
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Telat
T
Keleş
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Hüseyin
H
Ayhan
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Hacı Ahmet
HA
Kasapkara
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Murat
M
Akçay
Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Tahir
T
Durmaz
Department of Cardiology, Ankara Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Cenk
C
Sarı
Department of Cardiology, Ankara Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Serdal
S
Baştuğ
Department of Endocrinology, Faculty of Medicine, Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey.
Bekir
B
Çakır
Department of Cardiology, Ankara Ataturk Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Engin
E
Bozkurt
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D050197:Atherosclerosis; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010496:Pericardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
endothelial dysfunction; epicardial adipose tissue; type I diabetes mellitus