Highlights
- •The pancreatic attenuations was correlated with visceral fat and vascular stiffness.
- •Non-obese patients with pancreatic steatosis had increased risk for atherosclerosis.
- •In the obese group, pancreatic steatosis was not associated with atherosclerosis.
- •Our finding highlights the importance of pancreatic fat related to higher risk of CVD.
Abstract
Aims
Evidence that pancreatic fat accumulation has a role in obesity, metabolic syndrome
and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is emerging. However, data on the influence of pancreatic
steatosis on subclinical atherosclerosis are lacking.
Methods
We examined 198 patients with type 2 DM. Pancreatic computed tomography (CT) attenuations
were assessed using CT imaging. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 according to the Asian-specific BMI cut-offs. We defined pancreatic steatosis as
pancreatic attenuations below median levels.
Results
The pancreatic attenuations was significantly correlated with age (r = −0.302, p < 0.001), visceral fat area (r = −0.194, p = 0.006) and vascular stiffness (r = −0.242, p = 0.001). In the non-obese group (BMI < 25 kg/m2), pancreatic steatosis was associated with a higher prevalence of carotid artery
plaque and vascular stiffness. In the non-obese group, patients with pancreatic steatosis,
compared with those without, had an odds ratio (OR) of 3.1 (95% CI 1.2–8.1) for carotid
atherosclerosis, after adjusting for age, gender and BMI. However, significant associations
between pancreatic steatosis and atherosclerosis were not found in the obese group.
Conclusion
Ectopic fat in the pancreas is strongly associated with carotid atherosclerosis in
non-obese subjects with type 2 DM. This finding highlights the importance of pancreatic
fat deposits related to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, especially in non-obese
subjects.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: September 29, 2014
Accepted:
September 17,
2014
Received in revised form:
September 8,
2014
Received:
July 18,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
