The associations of epicardial adipose tissue with coronary artery disease and coronary atherosclerosis

Abstract

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is presumed to play an important role in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of our study was to examine the influence of EAT volume measured by cardiac CT on the severity and presence of CAD. A total of 209 subjects (114 normal subjects and 95 patients with CAD) underwent cardiac and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan before diagnostic coronary angiography. Pixels with a threshold range of -190 to -30 Hounsfield units were identified as EAT. CAGE ≥ 20, CAGE ≥ 50, and modified Gensini index were used to define the extent and severity of CAD. While there was no significant difference in BMI and WC between the two groups, the mean EAT volume was higher in the CAD group than in the normal subjects (102.4 ± 41.87 cm(3) versus 125.36 ± 47.64 cm(3), P < 0.001). EAT was significantly associated with CAGE ≥ 20, CAGE ≥ 50, and Gensini score by linear regression analyses after adjusting for age, gender, smoking, and alcohol use. The severity of CAD increased linearly with each tertile increase in EAT volume (P for trend < 0.05). Similarly, the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score was also increased with each increase in EAT tertile (P = 0.002). In multivariate logistic regression models, EAT and VAT were significantly associated with the presence of CAD and CAC in age, gender, smoking, alcohol use, and BMI adjusted models. In conclusion, EAT volume measured by CT is associated with the presence and severity of CAD. EAT may give important information for risk evaluation in CAD.