Association of the Thoracic Adiposity Measured by Computed Tomography with Lung Function

Background: Pericardial fat (PF) has been shown to be inversely associated with lung and cardiac function. Abdominal adipose tissues also have been linked to impaired lung function. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of thoracic adiposity including PF on pulmonary function and association with abdominal adipose tissues Methods: A total of 292 subjects (53.5 ± 9.9 years; 61.4% male) were included, who had undergone spirometry, chest, and abdomen computed tomography (CT) from June, 2012 to December, 2014 at the Medical Healthcare Center. PF, intrathoracic fat (ITF), and thoracic fat (TF) of the chest and visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT), and total adipose tissue (TAT) of the abdomen were obtained by directly measuring tissue volume with CT scan Results: PF, ITF and TF have a significant positive correlation with abdomen adiposity (VAT, SAT and TAT), waist circumference, body mass index. After multivariable adjustment, in male, PF, ITF and TF were inversely associated with forced expiratory volume at 1 second (FEV1)% predicted, forced vital capacity (FVC)% predicted, and the FEV1/FVC ratio except the association of PF with FEV1% predicted or FVC% predicted (p = 0.15 and p = 0.32, respectively), and TF with FVC% predicted (p = 0.11). However, in female, all of thoracic adiposity indices had no correlation with lung function. Conclusion: The volumes of thoracic adipose tissue have association with impaired lung function in male, and have a positive correlation with abdomen adipose tissue volumes and traditional obesity indices.