Epicardial Adipose Tissue Thickness and its Corelation with Metabolic Risk Parameters in People Living with HIV: A RIMS Study.

Abstract

Context:Epicardial fat envelopes the coronary vessel adventitia without fascial separation, thus pathologic inflammation in the fat may promote the growth of atherosclerotic plaque in coronary arteries in an ‘outside-in’ fashion. Epicardial fat is quantitatively increased in HIV compared to un-infected people.Aims:1. To assess Epicardial Adipose tissue (EAT) by Computed tomography (CT) in PLHIV receiving first line ART (antiretroviral therapy) 2. To correlate EAT with metabolic risk parameters.Material and Methods:215 HIV-infected patients aged >18 years on first line ART were included in the cross sectional study. EAT thickness were measured by CT scan. Metabolic parameters were measured based on metabolic syndrome criteria.Statistical Analysis Used:Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version ver. 21. Probability value of less than 0.5 was taken as significant.Ethical Issues:The study was carried out after obtaining approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC), Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal.Results:Half of the patients were found to have EAT thickness of 8.1-9 mm and 12.6% of cases had EAT of >9 mm. Mean epicardial thickness was 8.3 mm ± 0.7 mm for whole population. Triglyceride and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were also found to have positive correlation with EAT thickness (rp= 0.364, P = 0.04 and rp= 0.343, P = 0.05 respectively).Conclusion:Epicardial adipose tissue thickness is increased in PLHIV receiving highly active anti retroviral therapy (HAART) and positively co-related with parameters of metabolic syndrome such as waist circumference, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride level.