Increased epicardial adipose tissue thickness: A new indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis in non-fat children with migraine

Abstract

Objective: Epicardial adipose tissue is an important predictive factor of incident cardiovascular events independent from the plasma concentration of circulating biomarkers as well as patient’s traditional risk factors. In our study, we aimed to evaluate both epicardial adipose tisssue thickness and carotid intima-media thickness to detect the link between migraine and the increased risk of cardivascular events in children with migraine, independent from traditional risk factors like obesity, high serum lipid and conventional C- reactive protein levels. Methods: Forty-five migraine patients and 47 age, and gender-matched healthy children were assesed. regarding carotid intima media and epicardial adipose tissue thickness parameters measured by echocardiography were compared between two groups. Results: No significant difference was detected in children with migraine and control group in terms of serum lipid levels, C-reactive protein levels that are known to be related with coronary vascular changes between two groups. The statistically significant difference was found in carotid intima media and epicardial adipose tissue thickness values between the study and control groups (p<0.001). A significantly positive correlation was found between carotid intima media and epicardial adipose tissue thickness values in migraine group. Conclusion: Early vascular changes in carotid artery can be related to the proinflammatory and inflammatory properties of epicardial adipose tissue thickness in children with migraine. So, we can consider that independent from the traditional risk factors we can detect the increased risk of cardiovascular events in children with migraine attacks. © Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Medicine.