The aim of this paper was to evaluate the prevalence and age distribution of pericardial and intrathoracic fat depots, as well as their respective metabolic risk factor profiles. The study sample derived from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort included 3,312 participants (mean age=52 years; 48% women) who underwent multidetector CT imaging. Analyses revealed that nearly one third of the study sample had high pericardial fat and high intrathoracic fat volumes. Moreover, by 70 years of age, about half of individuals had increased pericardial and intrathoracic fat. The data showed that high intrathoracic fat deposits are associated with increased prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors and that the combination of high intrathoracic fat with either high pericardial fat or high intra-abdominal (visceral) fat were both found to have a more adverse cardiometabolic risk profile compared with individuals with ≤1 high regional fat deposit. In addition, higher body mass index and higher waist circumference and prevalent metabolic syndrome were more associated with high intrathoracic fat than with high pericardial fat, but the strongest correlate was intra-abdominal fat. The authors also found that intrathoracic fat was a better marker for intra-abdominal fat than pericardial fat and that it also better discriminated between intra-abdominal and subcutaneous fat, as compared with waist circumference. Thus, these findings suggest that intrathoracic fat which is a measure more and more available appears to be a potential marker of metabolic risk and intra-abdominal fat.
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