Association of body mass index and visceral fat with aortic valve calcification and mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: the obesity paradox in severe aortic stenosis

Previous studies showed that metabolic syndrome is associated with aortic valve calcification (AVC) and poor outcomes in aortic stenosis (AS). However, if these associations change and how body fat impacts the prognosis of patients in late stage of the disease have been not yet explored. To determine the association of body mass index (BMI) and visceral fat with AVC and mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). This was a prospective cohort of 170 severe AS patients referred to TAVR. We quantified AVC mass score and fat depots including epicardial adipose tissue, intrathoracic fat, and abdominal visceral (VAF) and subcutaneous fats by computed tomography. Fat depots were indexed to body surface area. All-cause and cardiovascular-related deaths after TAVR were recorded over a median follow-up of 1.2 years. Higher AVC mass was independently associated with low BMI and low VAF. All-cause mortality risk increased with the decrease of BMI and increment of VAF. A stratified analysis by obesity showed that in non-obese, VAF was inversely associated with mortality, whereas in obese, high VAF was associated with higher mortality (p value for interaction < 0.05). At long-term, hazard ratio [HR] with non-obese/low VAF was 2.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–4.9; p = 0.021) and HR with obese/high VAF was 2.5 (95% CI 1.1–5.8; p = 0.031) compared with obese/low VAF patients. In AS patients submitted to TAVR, BMI and VAF were inversely associated with AVC. Pre-intervention assessment of VAF by computed tomography may provide a better discrimination of mortality than BMI alone.