"Abdominal Perivascular Fat Associated with Metabolic Syndrome Risk"

Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital Convergence Research

Research results have shown that excessive accumulation of fat tissue around abdominal blood vessels or poor quality of fat tissue is associated with an increase in 'metabolic abnormalities (such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, obesity, etc.).'

Professors Hae-Kyung Lee of the Department of Nephrology, Eun-Ji Lee of the Department of Radiology, and Soon-Hyo Kwon of the Department of Nephrology at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital (from left).

The Convergence Research Group of Nephrology and Radiology at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital recently announced these findings in the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism's journal 'Clinical Nutrition' on the 17th.

Ectopic fat, which accumulates in the abdomen, liver, muscles, and other areas, is known to be a major cause of metabolic syndrome. Fat tissue around abdominal blood vessels is one type of ectopic fat, and previous studies have mostly focused on patients with cardiovascular disease or those at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

Through this study, the research team investigated whether fat tissue around abdominal blood vessels is associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease risk in the general population with low cardiovascular risk. To do this, they analyzed data from 505 individuals who underwent abdominal and pelvic CT scans during health checkups at Soonchunhyang University Seoul Hospital.

The results showed that as the number of metabolic abnormalities increased, the amount of perivascular fat tissue increased, and the fat attenuation coefficient decreased. In particular, even after considering various variables including body mass index, the amount of perivascular fat tissue was associated with an increased degree of metabolic abnormalities in the group with three or more components of metabolic syndrome, i.e., those diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.

The research team analyzed that excessive perivascular fat tissue in the abdomen is related to the onset of metabolic syndrome, and changes in the quality of fat tissue appear even in mild metabolic abnormalities.

Professor Lee Haekyung, the first author and a nephrology specialist, stated, "Through this study, evaluating abdominal perivascular fat tissue using CT imaging could serve as a potentially useful biomarker even in patients with relatively low cardiovascular risk," adding, "Furthermore, it provides an important clue for developing models that predict the occurrence of metabolic diseases using commonly utilized clinical imaging data."

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