Relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and sedentary time, physical activity level, and physical performance in patients with hypertension

Abstract

Epicardial adipose tissue is associated with the development of cardiovascular disease and its increase is positively correlated with blood pressure elevation in hypertensive individuals. In the literature, being physically active has been shown to be effective in the treatment of hypertension and reduction of epicardial adipose tissue thickness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and sedentary time, physical activity level and physical performance in patients with hypertension. The physical and demographic characteristics of the 40 patients with hypertension were collected with sociodemographic form. Waist/hip circumference was measured with tape measure and epicardial adipose tissue thickness with echocardiography device. Physical activity levels and sedentary time were recorded via IPAQ-7. Physical performance was determined using the 30-s sit-and-stand test. There was a moderate negative correlation between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and IPAQ-7 score (rho: −0.568 p < 0.001) and a high negative correlation between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and sit-and-stand test score (rho: −0.794 p < 0.001). There was no relationship between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and daily sitting time, BMI, or hip circumference. There was moderate positive correlation between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and age (rho: 0.504 p: 0.001) and low positive correlation between waist circumference (rho: 0.322 p < 0.05).This study demonstrated that the epicardial adipose tissue thickness was negatively associated with activity and performance in hypertensive patients, but not with daily sitting time. These results underscore the importance of physical activity in the management and prevention of chronic diseases.