The association among peri-aortic root adipose tissue, metabolic derangements and burden of atherosclerosis in asymptomatic population

Chun-Ho Yun; Chris T Longenecker; Hui-Ru Chang; Greta S P Mok; Jing-Yi Sun; Chuan-Chuan Liu; Jen-Yuan Kuo; Chung-Lieh Hung; Tung-Hsin Wu; Hung-I Yeh; Fei-Shih Yang; Jason Jeun-Shenn Lee; Charles Jia-Yin Hou; Ricardo C Cury; Hiram G Bezerra

doi:10.1016/j.jcct.2015.10.002

The association among peri-aortic root adipose tissue, metabolic derangements and burden of atherosclerosis in asymptomatic population

J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2016 Jan-Feb;10(1):44-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jcct.2015.10.002. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Radiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
² Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
³ Institute of Health Policy and Management of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Health Care Organization Administration, College of Public Health National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Health Evaluation Center, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medical Technology, Yuanpei University of Science and Technology, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.
⁷ Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Health Care Organization Administration, College of Public Health National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, and Mackay Medicine Nursing and Management College, New Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: jotaro3791@gmail.com.
⁹ Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: tung@ym.edu.tw.
¹⁰ Department of Radiology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹¹ Cardiovascular MRI and CT Program, Baptist Cardiac Vascular Institute, Miami, USA.

PMID: 26507645
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcct.2015.10.002

Abstract

Aim: To describe the relationship between a novel measurement of peri-arotic root fat and ultrasound measures of carotid artery remodeling.

Materials and methods: We studied 1492 consecutive subjects (mean age: 51.04 ± 8.97 years, 27% females) who underwent an annual cardiovascular risk survey in Taiwan. Peri-aortic root fat (PARF) was assessed by cardiac CT using three-dimensional (3D) volume assessment. Carotid artery morphology and remodeling were assessed by ultrasound. We explored the relationships between PARF volumes, cardiometabolic risk profiles and carotid morphology and remodeling.

Results: Mean PARF volume in current study was 20.8 ± 10.6 ml. PARF was positively correlated with measures of general adiposity, systemic inflammation, and several traditional cardiometabolic risk profiles (all p < 0.001) and successfully predicted metabolic syndrome (MetS) (AUROC: 0.75, 95%, confidence interval: 0.72-0.77). Higher PARF was independently associated with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) (β-coef.: 0.08) and diameter (β-coef.: 0.08, both p < 0.05) after accounting for age, sex, BMI and other cardiovascular risk factors. The addition of PARF beyond metabolic syndrome components significantly provided incremental prediction value for abnormal IMT (ΔAUROC: 0.053, p = 0.0021).

Conclusion: Peri-aortic root fat is associated with carotid IMT, even after adjustment for cardiometabolic risks, age and coronary atherosclerosis. Further research studies are warranted to identify the mediators of downstream pathophysiologic effects on carotid arteries by PARF and understand the mechanisms related to this correlation.

Keywords: Adipose tissue; Cardiovascular disease risk factors; Carotid artery; Computed tomography; Metabolic syndrome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adipose Tissue / diagnostic imaging*
Adiposity
Aortic Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
Aortic Diseases / epidemiology*
Aortography / statistics & numerical data
Asymptomatic Diseases / epidemiology
Carotid Artery Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
Comorbidity
Female
Humans
Incidence
Male
Metabolic Diseases / diagnosis
Metabolic Diseases / epidemiology*
Middle Aged
Reproducibility of Results
Risk Factors
Sensitivity and Specificity
Taiwan / epidemiology
Tomography, X-Ray Computed / statistics & numerical data*
Ultrasonography