Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Epicardial Adipose Tissue Measured by Chest Computed Tomography in Healthy Adults

Background: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) may produce several cytokines contributed to coronary atherosclerosis. EAT was measured by transthoracic echocardiography or 3 dimensional cardiac computed tomography (CT) on previous studies. We aimed to evaluate the correlation between EAT thickness and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy adults. Method: We collected clinical, biochemical information from 469 subjects (371 men and 98 women) who visited our health promotion center. EAT thickness was measured by chest CT on the free wall of the right ventricle. Result: The mean EAT thickness was 2.47 ± 1.64 mm in total of 469 subjects. EAT thickness was significantly correlated to age, weight, body mass index (BMI), total body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, and fasting glucose in men and to age, height, weight, BMI, total body fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, C-reactive protein (CRP), and fasting glucose in women. Multivariate analysis showed that age, BMI, systolic blood pressure, fasting glucose were the variables that independently correlated to EAT thickness in men. But there was no significant independent variable in women. Conclusion: In our study, EAT thickness measured with chest CT in healthy individuals correlates with cardiovascular risk factors in men.