Association between Epicardial Adipose Tissue Thickness and Left Ventricular Diastolic Functions

Objective: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has been found to be associated with the diastolic dysfunction in recent years, but this relationship has not been fully elucidated. Echocardiography is a non-invasive, simple, cost effective and accessible approach to assess EAT thickness, which can be performed easily. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of EAT on prediction of diastolic dysfunction . Materials and Methods: A total of 138 patients without any cardiovascular, inflammatory, autoimmune and cancer disease, were enrolled. Our study was performed in the Cardiology clinic of Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital between May 2019 and December 2019. Subjects were divided into two groups, those with and without diastolic dysfunctions . Conventional echocardiography parameters and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) were performed to evaluate left ventricular functions. EAT thickness on the free wall of the right ventricle in parasternal long-axis view were measured using transthoracic echocardiography. Results: In comparison with the non- diastolic dysfunction group, patients with diastolic dysfunction had significantly higher epicardial fat thickness (5.98±1.52 mm vs 4.32±1.03 mm; p<0.001). The multivariate regression analysis indicated that EAT independently predicts diastolic dysfunction (OR, 0.278, 95%CI 0.396 to 1.400) Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, EAT thickness is an independent predictor for the development of diastolic dysfunction in patients without cardiovascular disease.