Effect of aerobic exercise on echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness in overweight individuals

BACKGROUND: Epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EATT) measured by echocardiography is a reliable indicator of visceral adipose tissue in the body and metabolic syndrome. The objective of this work was to study the effect of 12-week aerobic exercise training on echocardiographic epicardial adipose tissue thickness (EEATT), body composition and other metabolic parameters in asymptomatic overweight adults. METHODS: A total of 170 overweight and mild obese individuals were randomly allocated to 12-week aerobic exercise program (intervention group) or no supervised exercise (control group). The body fat percentage and visceral fat levels were measured by bioelectric impedance analyzer, and blood tests were conducted to measure lipids, fasting blood sugar (FBS) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP). The participants also underwent transthoracic echocardiography to measure EATT. All the outcomes were measured after 12 weeks. Repeated measures were analyzed using ANOVA and Mann–Whitney U-test were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: EEATT values significantly reduced by −16.24% (3.12±1.18 to 2.70±1.04, p<0.05) following 12 weeks of aerobic exercise along with a reduction in weight by 2.96% (80.66±12.12 to 78.27±12.31, p<0.05), body mass index by 3.11% (29.20±2.71 to 28.29±2.81, p<0.05) and waist circumference by 2.29% (94.82±7.23 to 92.64±7.33, p<0.05) and improved Hs-CRP values. CONCLUSION: The 12-week aerobic exercise was found to be effective in reducing EEATT in overweight and mild obese individuals. There was significant improvement in body composition, blood lipids, FBS, Hs-CRP and exercise capacity in intervention group compared to control group.