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. 2023 Mar 21;6(3):e1155.
doi: 10.1002/hsr2.1155. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Cardiovascular risk factors and pericardial fat volume as predictors of coronary atherosclerosis burden in postmenopausal women: A retrospective, single center study

Hussein Nafakhi  1 , Abdulameer A Al-Mosawi  2 , Qais Q Malik Alkhalil  3
Affiliations

Cardiovascular risk factors and pericardial fat volume as predictors of coronary atherosclerosis burden in postmenopausal women: A retrospective, single center study

Hussein Nafakhi et al. Health Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Little is known about the clinical relevance of pericardial fat volume (PFV), compared to other conventional cardiovascular risk factors, as predictors of coronary atherosclerosis severity among postmenopausal women. Our main aim was to assess the association of PFV and cardiovascular risk factors with coronary atherosclerosis burden, including occlusive coronary artery disease (CAD) (luminal stenosis >50%), coronary artery calcium score (CAC) >100, and plaque types in postmenopausal women.

Methods: Patients who had chest pain of angina and referred for 64-slice multi-detector CT (MDCT) angiography examination to exclude occlusive CAD presence were enrolled in this retrospective study.

Results: A total of 241 women with absence of menses for more than 2 consecutive years and not taking hormone replacement therapy were enrolled in the present study. Increased PFV (OR [CI] = 1.1 [1-1.3], p = 0.004), age (OR [CI] = 1.1 [1-1.4], p = 0.002), and diabetes mellitus (OR [CI] = 2 [1-4], p = 0.025) were significant predictors of occlusive CAD presence. Increased PFV (OR [CI] = 1.1 [1-1.4], p = 0.017) and increased age (OR [CI] = 1.2 [1.1-1.4], p < 0.001) were better predictors of CAC >100 than other cardiovascular risk factors. Regarding coronary plaque types, increased age (OR [CI] = 1.1 [1.1-1.3], p = 0.001) showed a significant association with coronary calcified plaque presence while increased body mass index(OR [CI] = 1.2 [1-1.4], p = 0.018) showed a significant association with coronary non-calcified plaque presence.

Conclusion: Higher PFV values showed an independent association with occlusive CAD and significant coronary calcification. This may imply that increased PFV is likely associated with the development of advanced and severe phenotype of coronary atherosclerosis among postmenopausal women with suspected CAD.

Keywords: CAD; CT angiography; menopause; pericardial fat; predictors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart for the study population. CAD, coronary artery disease; MDCT, multi‐detector CT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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