Article Impact Level: HIGH Data Quality: STRONG Summary of European Heart Journal, ehaf553. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf553 Dr. Vladimir Losev et al.
Points
- A comprehensive analysis of over 21,000 participants revealed that high levels of visceral adipose tissue surrounding organs were strongly associated with accelerated aging of the cardiovascular system.
- Researchers also identified that fat infiltration in muscles and high liver fat fractions were significant predictors of increased cardiovascular age for both men and women in the study.
- For males, an android or ‘apple-shaped’ body composition, characterized by more abdominal fat, was specifically associated with a greater difference between their predicted cardiovascular age and chronological age.
- In contrast to harmful fat patterns, a genetic predisposition for gynoid or ‘pear-shaped’ fat storage, specifically on the hips and thighs, was associated with a protective effect on heart aging.
- The study concludes that body fat distribution is a more critical determinant of heart health than body mass index, highlighting specific adipose tissues as targets for future intervention.
Summary
A study analyzed data from 21,241 UK Biobank participants to investigate the impact of sex-dependent fat phenotypes on cardiovascular aging. Researchers utilized machine learning on 126 image-derived traits to predict a cardiovascular age, calculating an “age-delta” as the difference between predicted and chronological age. The association between fat distribution, assessed by whole-body imaging, and the age-delta was evaluated using multivariable linear regression, with two-sample Mendelian randomization employed to investigate causal links.
The results demonstrated that visceral adipose tissue volume [β = 0.656, (95% CI, .537–.775), P < .0001], muscle adipose tissue infiltration [β = 0.183, (95% CI, .122–.244), P = .0003], and liver fat fraction [β = 1.066, (95% CI .835–1.298), P < .0001] were the most significant predictors of an increased cardiovascular age-delta in both sexes. In males specifically, abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue volume [β = 0.432, (95% CI, .269–.596), P < .0001] and android fat mass [β = 0.983, (95% CI, .64–1.326), P < .0001] were also strongly associated with accelerated cardiovascular ageing.
Conversely, genetically predicted gynoid fat was associated with a decreased age-delta, suggesting a protective effect. The study concludes that both shared and sex-specific patterns of adipose tissue distribution are critically linked to cardiovascular ageing. These findings identify visceral and ectopic fat as detrimental, and gynoid fat as potentially protective, highlighting adipose function and location, rather than total adiposity, as a key therapeutic target for extending cardiovascular healthspan.
Link to the article: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf553/8237967
References Losev, V., Lu, C., Tahasildar, S., Senevirathne, D. S., Inglese, P., Bai, W., King, A. P., Shah, M., De Marvao, A., & O’Regan, D. P. (2025). Sex-specific body fat distribution predicts cardiovascular ageing. European Heart Journal, ehaf553. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf553
