• FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster. The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website. By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
  • We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.

Metabolism . Epicardial adipose tissue measured from analysis of adipose tissue area using chest CT imaging is the best potential predictor of COVI

tetano

Editor, Senior Moderator
Metabolism


. 2023 Oct 31:155715.
doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2023.155715. Online ahead of print. Epicardial adipose tissue measured from analysis of adipose tissue area using chest CT imaging is the best potential predictor of COVID-19 severity

Takahiro Fukushima[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Tomoki Maetani[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shotaro Chubachi[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Naoya Tanabe[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Takanori Asakura[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Ho Namkoong[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hiromu Tanaka[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Takashi Shimada[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shuhei Azekawa[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shiro Otake[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Kensuke Nakagawara[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mayuko Watase[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yusuke Shiraishi[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hideki Terai[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mamoru Sasaki[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Soichiro Ueda[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Yukari Kato[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Norihiro Harada[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Shoji Suzuki[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Shuichi Yoshida[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Hiroki Tateno[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Yoshitake Yamada[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Masahiro Jinzaki[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Toyohiro Hirai[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Yukinori Okada[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Ryuji Koike[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Makoto Ishii[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Akinori Kimura[SUP] 14 [/SUP], Seiya Imoto[SUP] 15 [/SUP], Satoru Miyano[SUP] 16 [/SUP], Seishi Ogawa[SUP] 17 [/SUP], Takanori Kanai[SUP] 18 [/SUP], Koichi Fukunaga[SUP] 1 [/SUP]



Affiliations
Abstract

Background: Computed tomography (CT) imaging is widely used for diagnosing and determining the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Chest CT imaging can be used to calculate the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and upper abdominal visceral adipose tissue (Abd-VAT) areas. The EAT is the main source of inflammatory cytokines involved in chest inflammatory diseases; thus, the EAT area might be a more useful severity predictor than the Abd-VAT area for COVID-19. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no large-scale reports that sufficiently consider this issue. In addition, there are no reports on the characteristics of patients with normal body mass index (BMI) and high adipose tissue.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the EAT area, among various adipose tissues, was the most associated factor with COVID-19 severity. Using a multicenter COVID-19 patient database, we analyzed the associations of chest subcutaneous, chest visceral, abdominal subcutaneous, and Abd-VAT areas with COVID-19 outcomes. In addition, the clinical significance of central obesity, commonly disregarded by BMI, was examined.
Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated patients with COVID-19 aged ≥18 years In Japan. Data including from chest CT images collected between February 2020 and October 2022 in four hospitals of the Japan COVID-19 Task Force were analyzed. Patient characteristics and COVID-19 severity were compared according to the adipose tissue areas (chest and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue [Chest-SAT and Abd-SAT], EAT, and Abd-VAT) calculated from chest CT images.
Results: We included 1077 patients in the analysis. Patients with risk factors of severe COVID-19 such as old age, male sex, and comorbidities had significantly higher areas of EAT and Abd-VAT. High EAT area but not high Abd-VAT area was significantly associated with COVID-19 severity (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.66, 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-5.93). There was no strong correlation between BMI and VAT. Patients with high VAT area accounted for 40.7 % of the non-obesity population (BMI < 25 kg/m[SUP]2[/SUP]). High EAT area was also significantly associated with COVID-19 severity in the non-obesity population (aOR: 2.50, 95 % CI: 1.17-5.34).
Conclusions: Our study indicated that VAT is significantly associated with COVID-19 severity and that EAT is the best potential predictor for risk stratification in COVID-19 among adipose tissue areas. Body composition assessment using EAT is an appropriate marker for identifying obesity patients overlooked by BMI. Considering the next pandemic of the global health crisis, our findings open new avenues for implementing appropriate body composition assessments based on CT imaging.

Keywords: BMI; COVID-19 outcome; Epicardial adipose tissue; Visceral adipose tissue.

 
Back
Top Bottom