New Study Identifies “Fatty Heart” as a Standalone Risk Factor for Heart Disease
Update 22.12.2022
Researchers show that excess fat accumulation around the heart might be an independent warning sign irrespective of BMI
Body mass index (BMI) and waist
circumference are two standard health metrics used to gauge overall fitness and
well-being. While these are usually associated with cardiac fat, it is not
clear if cardiac fat has an independent role in heart diseases. Now, researchers
from South Korea and USA show that cardiac fat is indeed a strong risk factor
for heart diseases, highlighting a useful marker for cardiac health other than
BMI.
A new study by researchers from KNIH reveals that “fatty heart,” or
excess visceral fat around the heart, can be an independent marker for poor
cardiac health and recommends exercise and good diet to stay fit.
Image credit: William Choquette from Pexels.
It
is no secret that a good diet and lifestyle is essential for our physical as well
as mental well-being. The two standard metrics for good health are the body
mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, which is related to belly fat. Excess
belly fat has been shown to be an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes
and heart disease. However, general obesity may not be sufficient in
determining health because “visceral fat,” or fat accumulation around abdominal
organs, can also lead to a poor prognosis.
“Pericardial
adipose tissue” (PAT), characterized by the accumulation of fat around and
inside the outer covering of the heart, is often associated with general
obesity and, by extension, to heart diseases. However, whether PAT has an
independent role in influencing cardiac health has remained controversial,
until now.
In
a new study published in Cardiovascular Diabetology, a research
team led by Prof. Seong Hwan Kim from Korea University Ansan Hospital, South
Korea, set out to unearth any likely association between PAT and heart
diseases. “There is no single perfect
indicator for obesity. Although BMI is practical and widely used, the presence
of excess cardiac fat could be an early warning sign, regardless of BMI,”
explains Prof. Kim. This study was supported by grants (2015-P71001-00 and
2016-E71003-00) from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
study included 2,471 participants from the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study,
with 50.9% of them being women without any prior history of cardiovascular
disease. The participants underwent 2D-echocardiography with tissue Doppler
imaging (TDI), which examined the functioning of the heart by measuring the
velocity of the heart muscle during the heart cycle, and computed
tomography (CT), which used X-rays to detect abnormalities.
The
team found that men were more likely to show the presence of PAT than women.
Moreover, men with extra PAT also showed abnormal blood pressure as well as
relatively higher blood glucose and cholesterol levels. Additionally, higher
pericardial fat levels were associated with an increased left ventricular (LV)
mass index and left atrial (LA) volume index as well as with decreased systolic
and early diastolic TDI velocities, all of which indicated deteriorating
cardiac health.
Interestingly,
the associations between PAT and various indicators of decreased cardiac health
remained intact even after accounting for BMI and waist circumference.
“PAT was independently associated with subclinical LV
structural and functional deterioration, irrespective of the status of the
standard obesity measures,” says Prof. Kim.
What are the implications of these findings? “Considering
that it is not feasible to measure all the different kinds of visceral fat
accumulations in the body, a lifestyle involving balanced nutrition and regular
physical activity is a legitimate approach to better health and well-being,”
comments Prof. Kim
The study thus confirms, once again, that, obese or
not, a good diet and exercise are the key to staying fit.
Reference
Authors |
Jin-Seok Kim1, Seon Won Kim1,
Jong Seok Lee1, Seung Ku Lee2, Robert Abbott2,
Ki Yeol Lee3, Hong Euy Lim4, Ki-Chul Sung5,
Goo-Yeong Cho6, Kwang Kon Koh7, Sun H. Kim8,
Chol Shin2 & Seong Hwan Kim1 |
Title of
original paper |
Association of pericardial adipose tissue with
left ventricular structure and function: a region‐specific effect? |
Journal |
Cardiovascular
Diabetology |
DOI |
10.1186/s12933-021-01219-4 |
Affiliations |
1Division of Cardiology, Korea
University Ansan Hospital 2Institute of Human Genomic
Study, Korea University Ansan Hospital 3Division of Radiology, Korea University
Ansan Hospital 4Division of Cardiology, Hallym
University Sacred Heart Hospital 5Division of Cardiology, Kangbuk
Samsung Medical Center 6Division of Cardiology, Seoul
National University Bundang Hospital 7Division of Cardiology, Gachon
University Gil Medical Center 8Division of Endocrinology,
Gerontology and Metabolism, Stanford Diabetes Research Center, Stanford
University School of Medicine |
About
National Institute of Health in Korea
The Korea
National Institute of Health (KNIH), one of the major operating components of
the Ministry of Health and Welfare, leads the nation’s medical research. Over
the past seven decades, the KNIH has made unwavering efforts to enhance the
public’s health and innovate biomedical research. The KNIH seeks to eradicate
diseases and make people healthier. The KNIH establishes a scientific basis and
evidence underlying health policy as well as provides national research
infrastructures. We also promote public health research. To this end, we make
efforts to enrich a health research environment by granting funds to research
projects and keeping our resources, data, and facilities more open and
accessible to researchers.
Website:
http://www.nih.go.kr/eng/
About Professor Seong Hwan Kim
Dr. Seong H. Kim is a Professor of Medicine at Korea University, South
Korea. He received his Ph.D. degree in Cardiology from Korea University in
2008. An echocardiography expert, Dr. Kim conducts research on insulin
resistance, obesity, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. From 2017 to 2019,
he worked with Prof. Sun Kim, an endocrinologist, as a Visiting Professor at
the Stanford University Hospital, where he studied the association between type
2 diabetes and heart disease. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging, the official journal of the Korean Society
of Echocardiography.