Heart failure & cardiomyopathies
Epicardial, Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
Authors' conclusion
The distribution of various AT depots is markedly different between men and women with HFpEF. Men have more VAT and EAT, but less SAT. The observed variation in AT depots may potentially contribute to gender-related differences in cardiovascular risk.
Study context
- Population
- Heart failure patients with left ventricular ejection fraction >40%patients included
- Participants
- 68 patients
- Exposure
- Men compared with women
- Womenn = 34
- Outcome
- Baseline characteristics
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Mean age
- 73 ± 8 years
- Women
- 34 (50%)
- Obese
- Twenty-six patients (38%)
- Increased waist circumference (WC)
- 60 (91%)
- Increased visceral AT (VAT)
- 58 (85%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
EAT · men had more EAT
P < 0.001
VAT · men had more VAT
P < 0.001
SAT · men had less SAT
P < 0.001
Association of VAT with epicardial AT (EAT)
- β
- 0.40
- P
- P < 0.001
- R2
- 0.40
- VAT not associated with subcutaneous AT (SAT)
- After adjusting for age, gender and body mass index (BMI)
- Albeit modest
Original publication
Epicardial, Visceral and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction. ESC Heart Fail. Published 19 August 2025. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it