Usefulness of the epicardial fat tissue thickness as a diagnostic criterion for geriatric patients with metabolic syndrome

Berna Kaya; Bedri Caner Kaya; Emel Yigit Karakas; Sadettin Selcuk Baysal; Dursun Cadirci; Emre Erkus; Ibrahim Halil Altiparmak; Emin Savik; Hatice Sezen; Turgay Ulas

doi:10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2015.04.008

Usefulness of the epicardial fat tissue thickness as a diagnostic criterion for geriatric patients with metabolic syndrome

J Geriatr Cardiol. 2015 Jul;12(4):373-7. doi: 10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2015.04.008.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Sanliurfa Training and Research Hospital, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
² Department of Cardiology, Sanliurfa Training and Research Hospital, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
⁴ Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
⁵ Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey.

PMID: 26345498
PMCID: PMC4554790
DOI: 10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2015.04.008

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the epicardial fat tissue thickness (EFTT) as a diagnostic criterion for geriatric patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS).

Methods: Sixty geriatric patients over 65 years of age were recruited for the study. Patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 (n = 30) consisted of patients with MetS; Group 2 (n = 30) consisted of patients without MetS. Echocardiography was used to measure EFTT in all patients, and blood samples were analyzed for biochemical parameters.

Results: Compared to Group 2, EFTT levels of Group 1 were statistically higher (P < 0.05). In a binary logistic regression analysis, EFTT levels served as the independent factor for metabolic syndrome (B = 17.35, SE = 4.93, Wald = 12.36, P < 0.001). Receivers operating characteristic Curve (ROC-curve) analysis revealed that EFTT predicted MetS with 96.7% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity above the level of 7.3 mm [area under the curve = 0.969; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.928-1.00].

Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that serum EFTT levels were higher in geriatric patients with MetS and can therefore be used as a diagnostic criterion for MetS.

Keywords: Epicardial fat tissue thickness; Geriatrics; Metabolic syndrome.