Epicardial Fat Thickness in Children with Classic Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
March 2019
in “
Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology
”
congenital adrenal hyperplasia epicardial fat thickness carotid artery intima-media thickness left ventricular mass index mitral deceleration time insulin resistance HOMA-IR 17-hydroxyprogesterone testosterone subclinical atherosclerosis myocardial function CAH EFT CA-IMT LVMI DcT 17-OHP early atherosclerosis heart function
TLDR Children with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia have thicker heart fat and are at higher risk for heart problems and early atherosclerosis.
The study compared 36 children with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) to 36 healthy controls and found that the CAH group had significantly higher epicardial fat thickness (EFT), carotid artery intima-media thickness (CA-IMT), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and prolonged mitral deceleration time (DcT). These findings indicate that children with CAH are at a higher risk for developing left ventricular dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis, particularly those with poor control over their condition. Additionally, CAH patients had worse insulin resistance scores (HOMA-IR) than controls. EFT was positively correlated with various factors including waist circumference, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone concentration, LVMI, mitral DcT, and CA-IMT. The study suggests that EFT could be a useful marker for early atherosclerosis and myocardial function in children with CAH. However, the study had limitations such as a small sample size and a wide age range of participants, which may affect the generalizability of the results.
