Epicardial adipose tissue and severe Coronavirus Disease 19

Both visceral adipose tissue and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) have pro-inflammatory properties. The former is associated with Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) severity. We aimed to investigate whether an association also exists for EAT.

We retrospectively measured EAT volume using computed tomography (CT) scans (semi-automatic software) of inpatients with COVID-19 and analyzed the correlation between EAT volume and anthropometric characteristics and comorbidities. We then analyzed the clinicobiological and radiological parameters associated with severe COVID-19 (O2 [Formula: see text] 6 l/min), intensive care unit (ICU) admission or death, and 25% or more CT lung involvement, which are three key indicators of COVID-19 severity.

We included 100 consecutive patients; 63% were men, mean age was 61.8 ± 16.2 years, 47% were obese, 54% had hypertension, 42% diabetes, and 17.2% a cardiovascular event history. Severe COVID-19 (n = 35, 35%) was associated with EAT volume (132 ± 62 vs 104 ± 40 cm³, p = 0.02), age, ferritinemia, and 25% or more CT lung involvement. ICU admission or death (n = 14, 14%) was associated with EAT volume (153 ± 67 vs 108 ± 45 cm³, p = 0.015), hypertension and 25% or more CT lung involvement. The association between EAT volume and severe COVID-19 remained after adjustment for sex, BMI, ferritinemia and lung involvement, but not after adjustment for age. Instead, the association between EAT volume and ICU admission or death remained after adjustment for all five of these parameters.

Our results suggest that measuring EAT volume on chest CT scans at hospital admission in patients diagnosed with COVID-19 might help to assess the risk of disease aggravation.