Effect of aerobic exercise on echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness in overweight individuals

Abstract

BackgroundEpicardial adipose tissue thickness (EATT) measured by echocardiography is a reliable indicator of visceral adipose tissue in the body and metabolic syndrome. The objective of this work was to study the effect of 12-week aerobic exercise training on echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EEATT), body composition and other metabolic parameters in asymptomatic overweight adults.MethodsA total of 170 overweight and mild obese individuals were randomly allocated to 12-week aerobic exercise program (intervention group) or no supervised exercise (control group). The body fat percentage and visceral fat levels were measured by bioelectric impedance analyzer, and blood tests were conducted to measure lipids, fasting blood sugar (FBS) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP). The participants also underwent transthoracic echocardiography to measure EATT. All the outcomes were measured after 12 weeks. Repeated measures were analyzed using ANOVA and Mann–Whitney U-test were used to analyze the data.ResultsEEATT values significantly reduced by −16.24% (3.12±1.18 to 2.70±1.04, p<0.05) following 12 weeks of aerobic exercise along with a reduction in weight by 2.96% (80.66±12.12 to 78.27±12.31, p<0.05), body mass index by 3.11% (29.20±2.71 to 28.29±2.81, p<0.05) and waist circumference by 2.29% (94.82±7.23 to 92.64±7.33, p<0.05) and improved Hs-CRP values.ConclusionThe 12-week aerobic exercise was found to be effective in reducing EEATT in overweight and mild obese individuals. There was significant improvement in body composition, blood lipids, FBS, Hs-CRP and exercise capacity in intervention group compared to control group.

Relation between parameters of body composition and echocardiography in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation

“…Moreover, Şeker et al [25] reported that epicardial adipose tissue thickness was independently associated with abnormal LV geometry, hypertrophy, and dysfunction, as well as low-grade chronic inflammation. A study by Bairapareddy et al [26] showed that EAT correlated with VAT, so we can assume that results by Şeker et al [25] indirectly corroborate our observations.…”

“…These last observations may be explained by the above-mentioned data concerning the effect of adiposity (FM, VAT and EAT) on heart remodelling [7,25]. The influence is related to a direct paracrine effect of EAT, the thickness of which correlates with visceral adiposity, as well as the endocrine and proinflammatory activity of VAT [10][11][12]26]. The results of this study have some limitations.…”

Physical exercise and epicardial adipose tissue: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…All were conducted in individuals who had, on average, overweight or obesity (body mass index >25 kgÁm −2 ), with mean age ranging from 23 to 68 years. However, other participants' characteristics differed across studies, with four of them specifically conducted in individuals with overweight or obesity, [27][28][29]31 two in individuals with metabolic syndrome, 23,30 one in individuals with high CVD risk (e.g., Framingham 10-year risk score >20%), 24 one in patients on hemodialysis, 22 one in individuals with depressive disorders, 26 and one combining people who were healthy and individuals with defective glucose tolerance. 25 Exercise interventions were supervised in all cases and included three sessions per week ($30-60 min per session) in the majority of cases except for one study, in which training frequency was not specified.…”

“…24 However, other characteristics such as length of the intervention (which lasted between 2 and 16 weeks) differed considerably between studies. Moreover, studies included different types of ET, moderate-intensity continuous (MICT) 22,24,26,29,30 or high-intensity interval training (HIIT), 23,25,31 or RT interventions (e.g., circuit of seven to 10 exercises with three to five sets of $10 repetitions), 27,28,31 and one study also assessed the effects of exergaming (i.e., exercising [in this case running and jumping] while playing a video game). 24 None of the studies reported any adverse event related to the exercise interventions (e.g., no musculoskeletal injury).…”

“…21 More recently, some RCTs have assessed the effects of exercise alone on EAT, [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] with some reporting promising results. 26,27,29,31 A recent systematic review that included both RCT and non-RCT studies assessed whether exercise-alone or combined with dietary intervention-affects EAT, with the results showing a significant reducing effect. 32 However, some RCTs assessing the effects of exercise alone on EAT were not meta-analysed.…”