Epicardial and visceral adipose tissue in relation to subclinical atherosclerosis in a Chinese population.

Background: Body fatness is associated with risk of coronary heart disease and it has been postulated that epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) may have a particularly detrimental effect because of its localized toxic effects. We therefore aimed to examine the association between EAT and coronary artery calcification and compared this with associations for visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and other regional fat depots.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 487 Chinese participants aged 50 years old and above, living in Singapore. Participants, free from known diabetes mellitus and coronary heart diseases, completed interviews, a health screening to evaluate obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors, and computed tomography scans of the abdomen and coronary arteries. Associations between regional fat depots and subclinical atherosclerosis defined as CAC> = 100 were determined by multiple logistic regression analysis.

Results: Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) was highly correlated with visceral adipose tissue (VAT) (Pearson r = 0.72) and trunk fat mass (r = 0.66). The age and sex-adjusted odd ratio (OR) (in 1-SD increase) of subclinical atherosclerosis was 1.28 (1.01-1.61) for EAT and 1.40 (1.04-1.88) for VAT. These associations were weaker and non-significant after adjusting for markers of dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia. Total body fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, and leg, arm and trunk fat mass were not significantly associated with atherosclerosis.

Conclusion: VAT and EAT showed similar associations with coronary artery calcification and the associations could be mediated by traditional risk factors in this ethnic Chinese population.