TY - JOUR

T1 - Epicardial adipose tissue and subclinical incident atrial fibrillation as detected by continuous monitoring

T2 - a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging study

AU - Guldberg, Eva

AU - Diederichsen, Søren Zöga

AU - Haugan, Ketil Jørgen

AU - Brandes, Axel

AU - Graff, Claus

AU - Krieger, Derk

AU - Olesen, Morten Salling

AU - Højberg, Søren

AU - Køber, Lars

AU - Vejlstrup, Niels

AU - Bertelsen, Litten

AU - Svendsen, Jesper Hastrup

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024, The Author(s).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has endocrine and paracrine functions and has been associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the association between EAT, determined by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and incident atrial fibrillation (AF) following long-term continuous heart rhythm monitoring by implantable loop recorder (ILR). This study is a sub-study of the LOOP study. In total, 203 participants without a history of AF received an ILR and underwent advanced CMR. All participants were at least 70 years of age at inclusion and had at least one of the following conditions: hypertension, diabetes, previous stroke, or heart failure. Volumetric measurements of atrial- and ventricular EAT were derived from CMR and the time to incident AF was subsequently determined. A total of 78 participants (38%) were diagnosed with subclinical AF during a median of 40 (37–42) months of continuous monitoring. In multivariable Cox regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, and various comorbidities, we found EAT indexed to body surface area to be independently associated with the time to AF with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) up to 2.93 (1.36–6.34); p = 0.01 when analyzing the risk of new-onset AF episodes lasting ≥ 24 h. Atrial EAT assessed by volumetric measurements on CMR images was significantly associated with the incident AF episodes as detected by ILR.

AB - Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has endocrine and paracrine functions and has been associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the association between EAT, determined by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and incident atrial fibrillation (AF) following long-term continuous heart rhythm monitoring by implantable loop recorder (ILR). This study is a sub-study of the LOOP study. In total, 203 participants without a history of AF received an ILR and underwent advanced CMR. All participants were at least 70 years of age at inclusion and had at least one of the following conditions: hypertension, diabetes, previous stroke, or heart failure. Volumetric measurements of atrial- and ventricular EAT were derived from CMR and the time to incident AF was subsequently determined. A total of 78 participants (38%) were diagnosed with subclinical AF during a median of 40 (37–42) months of continuous monitoring. In multivariable Cox regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, and various comorbidities, we found EAT indexed to body surface area to be independently associated with the time to AF with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) up to 2.93 (1.36–6.34); p = 0.01 when analyzing the risk of new-onset AF episodes lasting ≥ 24 h. Atrial EAT assessed by volumetric measurements on CMR images was significantly associated with the incident AF episodes as detected by ILR.

KW - Atrial fibrillation

KW - Cardiac magnetic resonance

KW - Epicardial adipose tissue

U2 - 10.1007/s10554-023-03029-z

DO - 10.1007/s10554-023-03029-z

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38245893

AN - SCOPUS:85182655212

VL - 40

SP - 591

EP - 599

JO - International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging

JF - International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging

SN - 1569-5794

ER -