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Pericardial fat versus BMI in the assessment of coronary atherosclerotic burden in patients with diabetes mellitus

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A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 27 January 2020

Abstract

Aims

To investigate the association of obesity measured by body mass index (BMI) versus pericardial fat volume (PFV) measured by multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) with coronary atherosclerotic markers (coronary artery calcium score (CAC), coronary stenosis severity and coronary plaque presence) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods

Among 496 patients with suspected coronary artery disease who underwent 64-slice MDCT angiography to exclude occlusive coronary artery disease, 102 patients with DM were enrolled in the present study.

Results

PFV showed a significant association with CAC (r = 0.2, P = 0.01) and significant coronary artery stenosis [PFV median (IQR) = 75 (51–136) in patients with coronary stenosis < 50% versus PFV median (IQR) = 113 (68–140) in patients with coronary stenosis ≥ 50%, P = 0.01] while there was no significant association of PFV with coronary plaque presence (PFV median (IQR) = 84 (56–140) in patients without plaque versus PFV median (IQR) = 109 (70–136) in patients with plaque presence, P = 0.4). The association between PFV with CAC persisted after adjustment for conventional cardiac risk factors. BMI showed no significant association with CAC, coronary stenosis severity and coronary plaque presence (P > 0.05).

Conclusions

PFV was independently associated with CAC in diabetic patients. PFV, rather than obesity measured by BMI, could be used as an imaging biomarker for assessing coronary atherosclerotic burden in patients with DM.

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Funding

There were no external funding sources for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Medicine Department, Medicine College, University of Kufa, P.O. 21, Kufa, Najaf, Iraq

    Hussein Nafakhi

  2. Radiology Department, Medicine College, University of Kufa, Najaf, Iraq

    Abdulameer A. Al-Mosawi

  3. Radiology Department, Jabir Ibn Hayyan Medical University, Najaf, Iraq

    Mundher M. Mudhafar

Authors
  1. Hussein Nafakhi
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  2. Abdulameer A. Al-Mosawi
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  3. Mundher M. Mudhafar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hussein Nafakhi.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

The study was approved by the local Institutional Review Board.

Statement of human and animal rights

The study protocol is in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 2000 and was approved by the local ethics committee in each study center.

Informed consent

Verbal informed consent was obtained from each patient.

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Managed by Antonio Secchi.

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Nafakhi, H., Al-Mosawi, A.A. & Mudhafar, M.M. Pericardial fat versus BMI in the assessment of coronary atherosclerotic burden in patients with diabetes mellitus. Acta Diabetol 57, 605–611 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01465-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00592-019-01465-9

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