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. 2021 Apr 21:8:658445.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.658445. eCollection 2021.

Association Between Epicardial Adipose Tissue and Stroke

Maria Inês Rosa  1 , Antonio José Grande  2 , Leticia Dorsa Lima  2 , Eduardo Ronconi Dondossola  1 , Maria Laura Rodrigues Uggioni  1 , Adrian V Hernandez  3   4 , Gary Tse  5 , Tong Liu  6 , Octávio Marques Pontes-Neto  7 , Giuseppe Biondi-Zoccai  8 , Mansueto Gomes Neto  9   10   11   12 , André Rodrigues Durães  10 , Michel Pompeu B O Sá  13   14   15 , Elmiro Santos Resende  16   17 , Leonardo Roever  17
Affiliations

Association Between Epicardial Adipose Tissue and Stroke

Maria Inês Rosa et al. Front Cardiovasc Med. .

Abstract

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is correlated with endothelial dysfunction, metabolic syndrome, increased mortality and recent studies showed a possible association with the increased risk of stroke. We performed a systematic review of studies evaluating the association between EAT and stroke. Eighty studies met the inclusion criteria and were consequently analyzed. The review had Five main findings. First, the increased epicardial fat thickness (EFT) may be associated with the stroke episode. Second, regardless of the imaging method (echocardiography, MRI, and CT) this association remains. Third, the association of metabolic syndrome and atrial fibrillation seems to increase the risk of stroke. Fourth, this systematic review was considered as low risk of bias. Despite being unable to establish a clear association between EAT and stroke, we have organized and assessed all the research papers on this topic, analyzing their limitations, suggesting improvements in future pieces of research and pointing out gaps in the literature. Furthermore, the mechanistic links between increased EAT and stroke incidence remains unclear, thus, further research is warranted.

Keywords: atherosclerosis; epicardial adipose tissue; metabolic syndrome; stroke; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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