Correlation between Aortic Stiffness and Visceral Fat Determined by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Muenpetch Muenkaew MD*, Thananya Boonyasirinant MD*, Rungroj Krittayaphong MD*
Affiliation : * Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background and
Objective : Arterial stiffening is an independent predictor for cardiovascular events. Studies using a variety
of different techniques have shown that visceral fat accumulation may be related to aortic stiffening. However, there are
limited data available about the study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of the present study is to assess the
correlation of visceral fat to the degree of aortic stiffness as determined by MRI.
Material and Method: The present study examined 95 subjects (age 69.14 + 9.76 years, female 50.5%, waist circumference
93 + 11 cm) who underwent cardiac MRI examination. Using MRI, aortic stiffness was measured as aortic pulse wave
velocity (PWV) by distance divided by time delay between mid-ascending and mid-descending aorta. Body fat measures were
evaluated as abdominal visceral fat volume (visceral fat), pericardial fat volume (visceral fat) and abdominal subcutaneous
fat volume (subcutaneous fat). Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the correlation between aortic
stiffness and each measure of the body fat.
Results : Mean PWV 11.41 + 5.30 m/s, pericardial fat 17.37 + 4.60 ml, abdominal visceral fat 470.85 + 181.12 ml and
abdominal subcutaneous fat 617.57 + 214.70 ml. No correlation was found between PWV and each measure of body fat as
follows; (1) pericardial fat volume to PWV (r = -0.025, p-value = 0.808), (2) abdominal visceral fat volume to PWV (r =
0.068, p-value = 0.520), (3) abdominal subcutaneous fat volume to PWV (r = -0.001, p-value = 0.992), (4) total abdominal
fat volume to PWV (r = 0.038, p-value = 0.719), (5) total visceral fat volume to PWV (r = 0.066, p-value = 0.528). There was
also no correlation found between PWV and visceral fat grouped in tertiles.
Conclusion : There was no significant correlation between visceral fat volumes and aortic stiffness.
Keywords : aortic stiffness, pulse wave velocity, visceral fat, magnetic resonance imaging
