Impact of age on epicardial and pericoronary adipose tissue volume.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of age on epicardial and pericoronary adipose tissue volume. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty healthy individuals with normal body mass index underwent multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) with coronary computed tomography angiography, and their scanning images were stored and analysed. Among them, 62 subjects were male, and 18 subjects were female. The patients were grouped by age: 10 subjects were < 35 yrs, 20 were 35-44 yrs, 20 were 45-54 yrs, 20 were 55-64 yrs, and 10 were > 65 yrs. Pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT), and the volume and the thickness of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) were measured. RESULTS: The correlation analysis showed that age was positively correlated to EAT volume. Moreover, spearman correlation analysis showed that the volumes of PCAT in the left main-left anterior descending artery (LM-LAD) and right coronary artery (RCA) gradually increased with increasing age, but not with the left circumflex artery (LCX) and EAT thickness (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the volumes of EAT and the adipose tissue surrounding the LM-LAD and RCA increase with increasing age.