Objective To determine whether ectopic fat depots are prospectively associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer and all-cause mortality. Background The morbidity associated with excess body weight varies among individuals of similar body mass index. Ectopic fat depots may underlie this risk differential. However, prospective studies of directly measured fat are limited. Methods Participants from the Framingham Heart Study (n=3086, 49% women, mean age 50.2 years) underwent assessment of fat depots (visceral adipose tissue, pericardial adipose tissue, and periaortic adipose tissue) using multidetector computed tomography, and were followed longitudinally for a median of 5.0 years. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the association of each fat depot (per 1 standard deviation increment) with the risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality after adjustment for standard risk factors, including body mass index. Results Overall, there were 90 cardiovascular events, 141 cancer events, and 71 deaths. After multivariable adjustment, visceral adipose tissue was associated with cardiovascular disease (HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.08–1.92, p=0.01) and cancer (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.12–1.84, p=0.005). Addition of visceral adipose tissue to a multivariable model that included body mass index modestly improved cardiovascular risk prediction (net reclassification improvement of 16.3%). None of the fat depots were associated with all-cause mortality. Conclusion Visceral adiposity is associated with incident cardiovascular disease and cancer after adjustment for clinical risk factors and generalized adiposity. These findings support the growing appreciation of a pathogenic role of ectopic fat.

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This study describes the detection, mitigation, and analysis of a large cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections in an acute care hospital with mature infection control policies and discusses insights that may inform additional measures to protect patients and staff.

Perivascular adipose tissue is a local deposit of adipose tissue surrounding the vasculature. Perivascular adipose tissue is present throughout the body and has been shown to have a local effect on blood vessels. The influence of perivascular adipose tissue on the vasculature changes with increasing adiposity. This article describes the anatomy and pathophysiology of perivascular adipose tissue and the experimental evidence supporting its local adverse effect on the vasculature. Methods for quantifying perivascular adipose tissue in free-living populations will be described. Finally, the epidemiological literature demonstrating an association between perivascular adipose tissue and cardiometabolic disease will be explored.