The relationship betweeen metabolic parameters and epicardial adipose tissue thickness in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Introduction: Pericardial adipose tissue is a visceral thoracic adipose tissue which is composed of epicardial and paracardial adipose tissue. The thickness of epicardial adipose tissue was shown to be correlated with visceral adipose tissue thickness, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, plasma insulin levels, fasting plasma glucose, HDL cholesterol level, LDL cholesterol level, adiponectin and insulin resistance.Increased epicardial adipose tissue could be used to predict an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In our study we aimed to investigate the relationship between metabolic parameters and EAT thickness in patients with type 2 DM. Materiels-Methods: In this study , 72 patients are used, which includes 36 type 2 DM patients and 36 non-diabetic patients as a control group. These patiens were selected from Abant İzzet Baysal Univercity Healthcare Research and Application Hospital Internal Medicine outpatients.For the selected patients, physical examination findings, complete blood count, glucose, creatinine, lipid parameters, HbA1c levels, Ejection fraction and EAT thickness measured by echocardiography were recorded. Findings: Average thickness of EAT for DM group was 0.6 ± 0.2 cm, as for the control group was 0.5 ± 0.2 cm. According to our study, there was not a considerable difference between the EAT thickness of the DM and control groups. According to BMI in obese and non-obese patients, it is evaluated that the the thickness of EAT has been increased by the presence of obesity. In our study, risk factors for coronary arterial disease such as total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, were not related with the thickness of EAT. Conclusion: In our study, it is presented that obesity, which is known as atherosclerotic risk factor, is associated with the thickness of EAT. Key words: EAT in patients with type 2 DM, EAT thickness, metabolic parameters that effect the thickness of EAT.