Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 14;10(1):6281. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63341-9.
In non-haemodialysis (HD) patients, increased epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness was significantly associated with adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. This study was designed to investigate whether EAT thickness was a useful parameter in the prediction of adverse CV events in HD patients. In addition, we also evaluated the major correlates of EAT thickness in these patients. In 189 routine HD patients, we performed a comprehensive transthoracic echocardiographic examination with assessment of EAT thickness. The definition of CV events included CV death, non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease, and hospitalization for heart failure. The follow-up period for CV events was 2.5 ± 0.7 years. Thirty-one CV events were documented. The multivariable analysis demonstrated that older age, smoking status, the presence of diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease, and low albumin levels were independently correlated with adverse CV events. However, increased EAT thickness was not associated with adverse CV events (P = 0.631). Additionally, older age, female sex, low haemoglobin, and low early diastolic mitral annular velocity were correlated with high EAT thickness in the univariable analysis. In the multivariable analysis, older age and female sex were still correlated with high EAT thickness. In conclusion, high EAT thickness was associated with older age and female sex in the multivariable analysis in our HD patients. However, EAT thickness was not helpful in predicting adverse CV events in such patients. Further large-scale studies are necessary to verify this finding.
在非血液透析（HD）患者中，心外膜脂肪组织（EAT）厚度增加与不良心血管（CV）事件显著相关。本研究旨在探讨 EAT 厚度是否可作为预测 HD 患者不良 CV 事件的有用参数。此外，我们还评估了这些患者 EAT 厚度的主要相关因素。在 189 例常规 HD 患者中，我们进行了全面的经胸超声心动图检查，并评估了 EAT 厚度。CV 事件的定义包括 CV 死亡、非致命性中风、非致命性心肌梗死、外周动脉疾病和心力衰竭住院。CV 事件的随访时间为 2.5±0.7 年。记录了 31 例 CV 事件。多变量分析表明，年龄较大、吸烟状况、患有糖尿病和冠状动脉疾病以及低白蛋白水平与不良 CV 事件独立相关。然而，EAT 厚度增加与不良 CV 事件无关（P=0.631）。此外，年龄较大、女性、低血红蛋白和低舒张早期二尖瓣环速度在单变量分析中与 EAT 厚度高相关。在多变量分析中，年龄较大和女性仍然与 EAT 厚度高相关。总之，在多变量分析中，EAT 厚度与年龄较大和女性相关，但在这些患者中，EAT 厚度无助于预测不良 CV 事件。需要进一步的大规模研究来验证这一发现。
