Epicardial Adipose Tissue Increased in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Objective: To investigate whether or not patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) have increased epicardial adipose tissue (EAT). Subjects and Methods: Sixty-one patients with newly diagnosed SH and without any known cardiovascular disease were enrolled. Twenty-four subjects matched for age, gender and body mass index without any thyroid dysfunctions were included as a control group. The EAT was measured by echocardiography and thyroid functions were assessed by routine blood examination. Results: Patients with SH had higher EAT values than control subjects (3.6 8 0.9 vs. 2.8 8 1.4, p = 0.005). Also, SH patients with thyroidstimulating hormone (TSH) 6 10 mU/l had higher EAT than those with SH with TSH ! 10 mU/l and control subjects (p = 0.013). In addition, while there was significant correlation between EAT and TSH (r = 0.31, p = 0.014) in patients with SH, there was no significant relation between EAT and TSH in normal subjects (r = 0.09, p = 0.64). Conclusions: There was a higher level of EAT in patients with SH compared with normal subjects and a significant correlation between EAT and TSH was found. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel Received: February 29, 2012 Accepted: June 12, 2012 Published online: August 9, 2012 Levent Korkmaz, MD Department of Cardiology Ahi Evren Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Trabzon (Turkey) E-Mail l.korkmaz @ yahoo.com © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/13/0221–0042$38.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp This is an Open Access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License (www.karger.com/OA-license), applicable to the online version of the article only. Distribution for non-commercial purposes only. D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .1 91 .4 0. 80 9 /1 6/ 20 17 1 0: 22 :1 3 P M