The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between regional adipose tissue depots and coronary artery calcified atherosclerotic plaque in African Americans with type 2 diabetes. The study cohort included 422 participants from the African American-Diabetes Heart Study with a mean age of 56.5 years, body mass index of 35 kg/m2 and diabetes duration of 10.3 years. Results showed a strong positive association between pericardial adipose tissue and both the presence and amount of coronary artery calcified atherosclerotic plaque. In addition, pericardial adipose tissue was significantly associated with the quantitative measure of infrarenal aorta calcified atherosclerotic plaque. Thus, these results suggest that calcified atherosclerotic plaque is also associated with pericardial adipose tissue in African Americans with type 2 diabetes as was observed in European Americans. Further studies are required to better understand the relationship between adipose tissue depots and regional calcified atherosclerotic plaque since ethnic differences are observed in calcified atherosclerotic plaque mass.
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