Resumen

CABRERA REGO, Julio Oscar et al. Epicardium fat and insulin-resistance:. Rev Cubana Invest Bioméd [online]. 2010, vol.29, n.2, pp. 231-239. ISSN 1561-3011.

The epicardial fat evaluated by echocardiography clearly reflects the grade of visceral adiposity more than general obesity, and it has been recently recognized as a source of bioactive molecules as well as free fatty acids, adiponectin, and inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, it plays a fundamental role in the cardiovascular diseases, with a direct relationship with insulin resistance in the general population. The objective of this study was to determine the utility of the echocardiography evaluation of the epicardial fat as a risk predictor of insulin resistance. Fifty patients were divided in two groups according to the diagnosis of insulin resistance (n=25 respectively). Each subject underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram to evaluate epicardial adipose tissue thickness, as well as both fasting glucose and insulin to determine the HOMA-IR (gold standard for the diagnosis of insulin resistance). Other studied variables were: age, sex, personal history of smoke, dislipidemie and hypertension and family history of diabetes mellitus, anthropometric measurements as waist and hip circumferences, waist /hip ratio and body mass index , by other hand were also measured the fasting glucose and insulin and serum lipids levels as total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-c. The epicardial fat media thickness was significantly higher in patients with HOMA-IR>2.6 (p=0.001), with acceptable sensibility and specificity in the association to insulin resistance for cut off values of epicardial fat ³ 3.5 mm.

Palabras clave : epicardial fat; echocardiography; insulin resistance.

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