Non-Alcoholic Fatty Pancreas Disease is Associated with Increased Epicardial Adipose Tissue and Aortic Intima-Media Thickness

Background: We aimed to investigate whether non-alcoholic fatty pancreas disease (NAFPD) is associated with epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), which is a kind of ectopic fat accumulation, and aortic intima-media thickness (aIMT), which is associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. Methods: Fifty-four patients with NAFPD (22men;mean age: 52 10 years) and 49 without NAFPD (16men;mean age: 49 8 years) were included in this study. NAFPD and aIMT were evaluated using transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS). EAT was evaluated with transthoracic echocardiography. Results: EAT (6.09 1.52 mm and 3.87 1.31 mm, p ＜ 0.001) and aIMT [1.12 (0.60-1.90) mm vs. 0.93 (0.50-1.44) mm, p ＜ 0.001] were significantly higher in the NAFPD positive subjects, compared to the NAFPD negative subjects. Multivariate analysis showed that age (p = 0.016), bodymass index (p = 0.004), and presence of NAFPD (p = 0.024) were associated with increased aIMT. In addition,multivariate analysis demonstrated that the presence of NAFPD (p ＜ 0.001) was ass