The association among peri-aortic root adipose tissue, metabolic derangements and burden of atherosclerosis in asymptomatic population.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the relationship between a novel measurement of peri-arotic root fat and ultrasound measures of carotid artery remodeling.


METHODS
We studied 1492 consecutive subjects (mean age: 51.04 ± 8.97 years, 27% females) who underwent an annual cardiovascular risk survey in Taiwan. Peri-aortic root fat (PARF) was assessed by cardiac CT using three-dimensional (3D) volume assessment. Carotid artery morphology and remodeling were assessed by ultrasound. We explored the relationships between PARF volumes, cardiometabolic risk profiles and carotid morphology and remodeling.


RESULTS
Mean PARF volume in current study was 20.8 ± 10.6 ml. PARF was positively correlated with measures of general adiposity, systemic inflammation, and several traditional cardiometabolic risk profiles (all p < 0.001) and successfully predicted metabolic syndrome (MetS) (AUROC: 0.75, 95%, confidence interval: 0.72-0.77). Higher PARF was independently associated with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) (β-coef.: 0.08) and diameter (β-coef.: 0.08, both p < 0.05) after accounting for age, sex, BMI and other cardiovascular risk factors. The addition of PARF beyond metabolic syndrome components significantly provided incremental prediction value for abnormal IMT (ΔAUROC: 0.053, p = 0.0021).


CONCLUSIONS
Peri-aortic root fat is associated with carotid IMT, even after adjustment for cardiometabolic risks, age and coronary atherosclerosis. Further research studies are warranted to identify the mediators of downstream pathophysiologic effects on carotid arteries by PARF and understand the mechanisms related to this correlation.
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Radiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chun-Ho
CH
Yun
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Chris T
CT
Longenecker
Institute of Health Policy and Management of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hui-Ru
HR
Chang
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau.
Greta S P
GS
Mok
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Jing-Yi
JY
Sun
Graduate Institute of Health Care Organization Administration, College of Public Health National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Health Evaluation Center, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medical Technology, Yuanpei University of Science and Technology, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.
Chuan-Chuan
CC
Liu
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan.
Jen-Yuan
JY
Kuo
Graduate Institute of Health Care Organization Administration, College of Public Health National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: jotaro3791@gmail.com.
Chung-Lieh
CL
Hung
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: tung@ym.edu.tw.
Tung-Hsin
TH
Wu
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan.
Hung-I
HI
Yeh
Department of Radiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Fei-Shih
FS
Yang
Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Jason Jeun-Shenn
JJ
Lee
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan.
Charles Jia-Yin
CJ
Hou
Cardiovascular MRI and CT Program, Baptist Cardiac Vascular Institute, Miami, USA.
Ricardo C
RC
Cury
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Hiram G
HG
Bezerra
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D050154:Adiposity; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001027:Aortography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014463:Ultrasonography
Adipose tissue; Cardiovascular disease risk factors; Carotid artery; Computed tomography; Metabolic syndrome