ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EPICARDIAL FAT, METABOLIC SYNDROME AND OBESITY

Epicardial fat is true visceral fat deposited around sub epicardial coronary vessels; it has been implicated in the development of coronary atherosclerosis. Epicardial fat has been also associated with insulin resistance. Tran's thoracic echocardiography provides a reliable measurement of epicardial fat thickness. Objective: To evaluate the association between epicardial fat thickness with metabolic syndrome and anthropometric parameters of adiposity. Methods: We assessed 70 patients who underwent echocardiography; the epicardial fat thickness on the free wall of the right ventricle was measured at end-diastole from the parasternal long-axis views of 3 cardiac cycles with Aloka Alfa 6 equipment (Japan), by 2 cardiologists who were unaware of the clinical data. Metabolic syndrome was defined according with the International Diabetes Federation criteria. ??The association between epicardial fat thicknesses with metabolic syndrome was evaluated with the fisher exact test, whereas its correlation with body mass index, and waist circumference was evaluated with the Pearson coefficient. Results: We found a significant association between epicardial fat thickness and metabolic syndrome (p = 0.0076), we also found a significant correlation between epicardial fat and body mass index (r = 0.51, p = 0.00001) and with waist circumference (r = 0.472, p = 0.0004). Conclusion: Epicardial fat thickness is associated with metabolic syndrome and anthropometric parameters related with adiposity, and may contribute to the cardiovascular risk of these patients.