Background: We sought to examine whether epicardial and abdominal visceral adipose tissue distribution is associated with coronary atherosclerosis in patients with a coronary artery calcium (CAC) score of zero, assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).
Methods and results: We studied 352 patients with suspected coronary artery disease (mean age 61±11 years, 57% male) with a CAC score of zero who had undergone CCTA. Non-calcified coronary plaques (NCPs) were detected in 102 patients (29%); those causing ≥50% stenosis were found in 15 patients (4%). Patients were divided into 4 groups on the basis of CT-based epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume and abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) area using the sex-specific median value. Multivariate analysis showed that the adjusted odds ratios for the presence of NCPs in the high VAT area/low EAT volume group, and the high VAT area/high EAT volume group were 2.80 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.25-6.35, P=0.01) and 2.68 (95% CI: 1.36-5.45, P=0.004), respectively. Interestingly, the low VAT area/high EAT volume group showed an equivalent adjusted odds ratio of 3.02 (95% CI: 1.33-6.90, P=0.008).
Conclusions: EAT volume is eligible as a marker to be evaluated in addition to VAT area in patients with a CAC score of zero.