Fat around the heart is linked to higher heart disease risk
In 61,336 adults, greater heart fat was associated with 17 percent higher coronary heart disease risk and 20 percent higher risk of atrial fibrillation.
Limit: All participants were drawn from a single cohort, the UK Biobank
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational study of 61,336 UK Biobank participants, researchers measured pericardial adipose tissue, a fat layer around the heart, using magnetic resonance imaging and artificial intelligence. They deployed an automated deep learning tool to quantify heart fat across 62,611 participants.
During follow-up, 1,121 participants developed coronary heart disease and 1,032 developed atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat. Each standard deviation increase in heart fat was associated with a 17 percent higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 20 percent higher risk of atrial fibrillation. These associations were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes, and blood lipids. After adjusting for body mass index, the links attenuated to about 10 percent but remained significant. The researchers also derived equations based on age, sex, and body composition to estimate heart fat without imaging.
Why it matters
Coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation are major cardiovascular conditions that increase with age. Quantifying fat depots around the heart at scale may help clarify how tissue-specific fat accumulation contributes to age-related cardiac risk.
Caveats
As an observational study, the research can identify links but cannot determine whether heart fat causes coronary disease or atrial fibrillation. The findings are based on UK Biobank participants and were presented in a conference abstract.
