Evaluation of cardiovascular changes in patients with gastric wall fat halo sign

BACKGROUND/AIM: This study aims to investigate the relationship between gastric wall fat halo sign and potentially associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) in thoracic computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between October 2020 and January 2021, 62 patients with gastric wall fat halo sign and 62 controls were evaluated with thorax CT. Patient’s height, weight, body mass index (BMI), sex, age, comorbidities, laboratory parameters, diameters of cardiac axes, aorta and pulmonary artery; aorta and coronary artery calcium scores were recorded for the two groups. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in sex, age, height, body weight or BMI between the two groups (p > 0.124). Patients with gastric wall fat halo sign had significantly larger diameters of the ascending aorta, the descending aorta, the main pulmonary artery, the right and left pulmonary arteries, and the short and long cardiac axes and a higher cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) than the control group (p < 0.001). Additionally, the calcium scores of the ascending, arcus, and descending aortas and the coronary arteries were significantly higher detected in patients group (p < 0.001). Patient group had significantly higher lipid profile, frequencies of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) than control group (p<0.026). CONCLUSION: Patients with a gastric wall fat halo may show higher cardiovascular risk because of increased visceral fat tissue, vascular diameters, CTR, heart sizes, presence of DM, HT, increased lipid profile and calcium scores.