Abstract
Background: Intima-media thickness (IMT) has been proposed as a measurement of subclinical atherosclerosis and has been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a fat depot between the pericardium and myocardium and has been associated with coronary atherosclerosis. The relationship between IMT and EAT thickness has not been reported before. We investigated the relationship between EAT thickness, IMT, CVD risk factors, and ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics using subjects from the Kardiovize Brno 2030 cohort study, a random urban sample population in Central Europe. Methods: We studied 102 individuals (65 males) aged 25–64 years (median = 37 years) with no current or past CVD history. We measured IMT using a vascular ultrasound and EAT thickness using transthoracic echocardiography, and collected data on anthropometric factors, CVD risk factors, and CVH score. Correlation tests and multiple linear regression models were applied. Results: In the age- and gender-adjusted model, we demonstrated that, among CVD risk factors, only BMI was significantly and positively associated with EAT thickness (β = 0.182, SE = 0.082, p = 0.030), while no significant associations with IMT were evident. Although both EAT thickness and IMT were negatively correlated with CVH score (r = −0.45, p < 0.001, and r = −0.38, p < 0.001, respectively), we demonstrated that overall CVH score (β = −0.262; SE = 0.077; p = 0.001), as well as BMI (β = −1.305; SE = 0.194; p < 0.001) and blood pressure CVH metrics (β = −0.607; SE = 0.206; p = 0.004) were significantly associated with EAT thickness but not with IMT. Conclusions: Our study is important as it demonstrated for the first time that CVH is associated with EAT thickness. Interestingly, this relationship seems to be dependent on BMI and blood pressure rather than on the other CVH metrics. However, outcome-driven studies are required to confirm these findings.
Highlights
In 2010, the American Heart Association (AHAM, Dallas, TX, USA) defined the cardiovascular health (CVH) score, which is based on the levels of seven metrics (i.e., body mass index (BMI), healthy diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol) [1]
While the association between poor CVH and Intima-media thickness (IMT) has been demonstrated in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, conducted on 5961 subjects, which demonstrated an inverse association between CVH scores and IMT in all ethnic groups taken into account [10], there is a lack of evidence for Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT)
We aimed to demonstrate the association of overall CVH score, as well as each of the seven CVH metrics, with the echocardiographic imaging parameters IMT and EAT thickness
Summary
In 2010, the American Heart Association (AHAM, Dallas, TX, USA) defined the cardiovascular health (CVH) score, which is based on the levels of seven metrics (i.e., body mass index (BMI), healthy diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol) [1]. We investigated the relationship between EAT thickness, IMT, CVD risk factors, and ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics using subjects from the Kardiovize Brno 2030 cohort study, a random urban sample population in Central Europe. Results: In the age- and gender-adjusted model, we demonstrated that, among CVD risk factors, only BMI was significantly and positively associated with EAT thickness (β = 0.182, SE = 0.082, p = 0.030), while no significant associations with IMT were evident. Conclusions: Our study is important as it demonstrated for the first time that CVH is associated with EAT thickness This relationship seems to be dependent on BMI and blood pressure rather than on the other CVH metrics. Outcome-driven studies are required to confirm these findings
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