Perivascular adipose tissue of the descending thoracic aorta is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus and vascular calcification in women

Abstract Objective Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Traditional CVD and SLE-disease related risk factors do not fully account for this increased risk. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is a visceral adipose depot in close proximity to blood vessels possibly influencing CVD. We hypothesized that women with SLE have an increased volume of descending thoracic aortic PVAT (aPVAT) associated with increased vascular calcification. Methods Using electron beam computed tomography, we quantified the aPVAT in clinically CVD-free SLE women ( n = 135) and age-/race-matched healthy controls (HC, n = 152). Coronary artery calcification (CAC) and aortic calcification (AC) were quantified using Agatston scores and the aPVAT was quantified using standard Hounsfield Units (HU) for adipose tissue. Results Women with SLE had greater median aPVAT (32.2 cm3 vs HC aPVAT 28.6 cm3 , p = 0.0071) and greater median AC (26.0 vs HC AC 6.0, p = 0.0013) than the healthy control women. Total aPVAT (per 25 cm3 ) remained significantly associated with SLE after adjusting for CVD risk factors (Odds Ratio 1.74 [95% Confidence Interval: 1.04–2.9], p = 0.034), but was attenuated when adjusting for circulating inflammatory markers ( p = 0.34). In a logistic regression analysis, SLE aPVAT (per 25 cm3 ) was associated with AC (6.78 [2.0–23], p = 0.0019), which remained significant after adjusting for circulating inflammatory markers ( p = 0.0074), and CAC (2.66 [1.4–5.0], p = 0.0028). Conclusions Total aPVAT is greater in clinically CVD-free SLE women than in age-/race-matched controls and is associated with calcification in different vascular beds.