The epieardial adipose tissue in 210 subjects with or without metabolic syndrome (MS) was measured by echocardiography.The thickness of epicardial adipose tissue in male with MS group was significantly greater than that in men without MS [(9.10±3.59) mm vs (6.82±3.00) mm,P0.01].Multiple regression analysis showed that echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness was positively correlated with body mass index,insulin resistant index,highly sensitive C reactive protein (all P0.05),and negatively correlated with insulin sensitive index(P0.05).Area under ROC curve of men's epicardial adipose tissue thickness in the diagnosis of MS was 0.723,women's being 0.635,showing that echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue is closely associated with MS and can be one of noninvasive ways in the collaborative diagnosis for MS.