Abstract
Background and Aims:Coronary artery disease (CAD) is usually caused by atherosclerosis, which is associated with general obesity and stronger associations with localized ectopic fat depots have been reported. We measured body ectopic fat distribution in Chinese patients to determine the association with coronary artery atherosclerosis (CA).Methods:Patients undergoing coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) who agreed to participate in the study (n = 750, 50.4% men, mean age 64.8 years) had cardiovascular disease and risk assessment. Body ectopic fat depots were measured from CT and their association with CA, determined from CCTA, was evaluated by univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.Results:CAD with CA (CAD-CA) was present in 57.2% of participants with CAD of moderate/severe CA (CAD-msCA) present in 23.5% and both were significantly more frequent in men than in women. Overall, men had greater body mass index (BMI) but there was no difference in waist circumference (WC) between genders. However, significantly higher visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and periaortic fat volume (PAFV) were observed in men, whereas women had significantly higher abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). With increasing age, there was a significant decline in BMI, WC and SAT in men, but a significant increase of WC and VAT, PAFV and epicardial fat volume (EFV) in women. A high proportion of non-calcified plaques was observed in CAD-CA, 55.3% in CAD of minimal/mild CA (CAD-mmCA) with 38.7% exclusively non-calcified plaques, and 59.7% in CAD-msCA with multiple type plaques containing non-calcified ones. Multivariate logistic regression showed a significant association of PAFV with CAD-CA and CAD-msCA that was independent of general obesity and clinical risk factors, and independent of abdominal obesity in the highest PAFV quartile patients. VATA was associated with an increased prevalence of CAD-msCA in the patients in the upper 2 VATA quartiles that was independent of clinical risk factors and both general and abdominal obesity.Conclusions:We found age and gender differences of body ectopic fat distribution in Chinese patients with higher VAT and PAFV in men and higher SAT in women. With increased age, there was a decline of WC and SAT in men but not in women and an increase in WC, VAT and PAFV in women but not in men. PAFV was significantly associated with overall CAD-CA and CAD-msCA, while VAT was associated with CAD-msCA.
Highlights
The prevalence of obesity is high and continues to increase worldwide [1]
The prevalence of Coronary artery disease (CAD)-msCA in the four Visceral adipose tissue area (VATA) quartiles was 24, 31, 52 and 63 patients, respectively, and the results of VATA quartile categorical multivariate logistic regression models indicated a significant association of the upper two quartiles of VATA with an increased prevalence of CAD-msCA in models 1, 2 and 3, while only the upper 2 quartiles of VATA were associated with CAD with coronary artery atherosclerosis (CA) (CAD-CA) in model 1 and no association was observed in models 2 and 3. These results suggested that periaortic fat volume (PAFV) was associated with an increased prevalence of CAD-CA and CAD-msCA in model 2 that was independent of clinical risk factors and general obesity, and in model 3 independent of abdominal obesity in patients of the highest PAFV quartile, while VATA was associated with an increased prevalence of CAD-msCA in the patients from the upper 2 VATA quartiles that were independent of clinical risk factors and general and abdominal obesity
The strengths of this study are that it examines a reasonably large group of middle aged and elderly Chinese subjects, which has not been studied in this detail before, and there are a similar number of male and female participants overall, which facilitates the identification of gender differences that are clearly present
Summary
The prevalence of obesity is high and continues to increase worldwide [1]. According to the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from 1989 to 2011, the age-adjusted prevalence of overweight, general obesity, and abdominal obesity in 2011 was 38.80%, 13.99% and 43.15% respectively, and significantly increased across all cycles of the survey among all subgroups [2]. Abdominal obesity is prevalent in Chinese people and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) has been reported to have a stronger association with cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) than BMI [2, 6, 7], and it is a better predictor of incident CVD after adjustment for clinical risk factors and generalized adiposity [8, 9]. VATA was associated with an increased prevalence of CAD-msCA in the patients in the upper 2 VATA quartiles that was independent of clinical risk factors and both general and abdominal obesity. Conclusions: We found age and gender differences of body ectopic fat distribution in Chinese patients with higher VAT and PAFV in men and higher SAT in women. PAFV was significantly associated with overall CAD-CA and CAD-msCA, while VAT was associated with CAD-msCA
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