Epicardial adipose tissue volume assessed by computed tomography and coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the crude and adjusted associations between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) volume determined by computed tomography (CT) and coronary artery disease (CAD). MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were screened for all observational studies assessing the association between EAT volume and CAD. We calculated pooled odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association per 10 cm3 variation of EAT by five different definitions of CAD: obstructive or significant coronary stenosis (luminal narrowing ≥50% and ≥70%, respectively), presence of coronary artery calcification (CAC), myocardial ischaemia, and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) using DerSimonian and Laird random-effects models. Seventy studies were identified comprising 41 534 subjects, mainly derived from community-based or hospital-based low-to-intermediate pretest probability of CAD populations. Participants with any outcome of CAD had a higher mean volume of EAT than those without. Accordingly, the analysis of crude associations showed that EAT volume was associated with obstructive stenosis, significant stenosis, any CAC, and MACE. Based on the analysis of adjusted associations, although attenuated, EAT volume remained associated with obstructive stenosis (OR 1.055, 95% CI 1.033–1.078; I2 = 63.5%), significant stenosis (OR 1.514, 95% CI 1.262–1.815; I2 = 51.8%), myocardial ischaemia (OR 1.062, 95% CI 1.006–1.122; I2 = 86.9%), and MACE (HR 1.040, 95% CI 1.024–1.056; I2 = 64.7%) but was only borderline significant with CAC (OR 1.007, 95% CI 1.000–1.011; I2 = 75.8%). In low-to-intermediate cardiovascular risk subjects, EAT volume was independently associated with coronary artery stenosis, myocardial ischaemia, and MACE.