Influence of the age on the correlation of obesity measures with coronary atherosclerotic markers

ObjectivesTo assess the influence of age on the association of pericardial fat volume (PFV), weight and body mass index (BMI) with coronary stenosis, plaque and coronary artery calcification (CAC).Materials and methodsA total of 127 consecutive patients with intermediate pretest probability of ischemic heart disease who underwent CT angiography examination were enrolled in this study. Of these, only 86 patients were found to be eligible to enroll in this study.ResultsStatistical analysis was performed in two steps. First we studied the relationship of anthropometric measures and coronary atherosclerotic markers in the whole sample. Second, we classified the patients into two groups according to age: age ⩽50 group [30 patients, 18 (60%) male, 12 (40%) female with age <50 years] and age >50 group [56 patients, 38 male (68%), 18 female (32%) with age above 50 years]. PFV was significantly associated with coronary artery stenosis (r = 0.381, P = 0.00) and this association persisted even after dividing the patients into young and older age group while there was inconsistent relationship between PFV and coronary plaque. There was a significant association between PFV and CAC in older age group only (P = 0.03). Weight and body mass index failed to demonstrate a significant association with coronary atherosclerotic markers in both young and older age groups.ConclusionWeight and BMI showed no significant correlation with coronary atherosclerotic markers while PFV as a new imaging marker for obesity showed a significant correlation with coronary atherosclerotic markers particularly stenosis severity.