Usefulness of the epicardial fat tissue thickness as a diagnostic criterion for geriatric patients with metabolic syndrome

Objective To evaluate the epicardial fat tissue thickness(EFTT) as a diagnostic criterion for geriatric patients with metabolic syndrome(MetS).Methods Sixty geriatric patients over 65 years of age were recruited for the study.Patients were divided into two groups:Group 1(n = 30) consisted of patients with MetS;Group 2(n = 30) consisted of patients without MetS.Echocardiography was used to measure EFTT in all patients,and blood samples were analyzed for biochemical parameters.Results Compared to Group 2,EFTT levels of Group 1 were statistically higher(P < 0.05).In a binary logistic regression analysis.EFTT levels served as the independent factor for metabolic syndrome(B = 17.35,SE = 4.93,Wald = 12.36,P < 0.001).Receivers operating characteristic Curve(ROC-curve) analysis revealed that EFTT predicted MetS with 96.7%sensitivity and 86.7%specificity above the level of 7.3 mm[area under the curve = 0.969;95%confidence interval(CI):0.928-1.00).Conclusions The present study demonstrated that serum EFTT levels were higher in geriatric patients with MetS and can therefore be used as a diagnostic criterion for MetS.