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Pericardial fat is associated with all-cause mortality but not incident CVD: the Rancho Bernardo Study

Britta A Larsen1, Gail A Laughlin2, Sarah D Saad3

  • 1Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA.

Atherosclerosis
|February 24, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Higher pericardial fat, but not intra-thoracic fat, is linked to increased all-cause mortality in older adults. This finding highlights pericardial fat as a significant predictor of mortality risk over a 12-year period.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Gerontology
  • Medical Imaging

Background:

  • Pericardial and intra-thoracic fat depots are known to correlate with prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD).
  • The predictive value of these fat depots for incident CVD events and all-cause mortality remains less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the prospective association between pericardial and intra-thoracic fat areas and the risk of incident CVD and all-cause mortality.
  • To analyze these associations over a 12-year follow-up period in older adults without baseline CVD.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized computed tomography (CT) scans to quantify pericardial and intra-thoracic fat in 343 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 67).
  • Followed participants for a median of 12.6 years to record incident CVD events and mortality.
  • Adjusted analyses for demographics, lifestyle factors, comorbidities, and visceral fat.

Main Results:

  • Pericardial fat was significantly associated with all-cause mortality (HR per SD increment: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.01-1.78).
  • Individuals in the highest tertile of pericardial fat had a 2.6-fold increased risk of mortality compared to the lowest tertile.
  • Neither pericardial nor intra-thoracic fat showed a significant association with incident CVD events.

Conclusions:

  • Increased pericardial fat is a significant predictor of all-cause mortality in older adults.
  • Intra-thoracic fat did not demonstrate a significant association with mortality in this cohort.
  • The highest levels of pericardial fat were particularly linked to elevated mortality risk.
Abstract

Keywords:
All-cause mortalityBody compositionFat distributionIncident CVDIntra-thoracic fatPericardial fat

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