In both sexes, visceral adipose tissue volume, muscle adipose tissue infiltration, liver fat fraction were strongest predictors of CV age<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Shared and sex-specific patterns of body fat are associated with changes in cardiovascular aging, according to a study published online Aug. 22 in the European Heart Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n Vladimir Losev, Ph.D., from Imperial College London, and colleagues examined the influence of sex-dependent fat phenotypes on human cardiovascular aging using data from 21,241 participants in the U.K. Biobank. Cardiovascular age was predicted from 126 image-derived traits of vascular function, cardiac motion, and myocardial fibrosis using machine learning; an age-delta was calculated as the difference between predicted and chronological age. Multivariate linear regression was used to assess the association between fat phenotypes and cardiovascular age-delta with age and sex as covariates.<\/p>\n The researchers found that for both sexes, the strongest predictors of increased cardiovascular age-delta were visceral adipose tissue volume, muscle adipose tissue infiltration, and liver fat fraction (\u03b2 = 0.656, 0.183, and 1.066, respectively). In men only, abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue volume and android fat mass were associated with increased age-delta (\u03b2 = 0.432 and 0.983, respectively). There was an association for genetically predicted gynoid fat with decreased age-delta.<\/p>\n “We have known about the apple and pear distinction in body fat, but it hasn’t been clear how <\/em>it leads to poor health outcomes,” lead author Declan P. O’Regan, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., also from Imperial College London, said in a statement. “Our research shows that ‘bad’ fat, hidden deep around the organs, accelerates aging of the heart. But some types of fat could protect against aging — specifically fat around the hips and thighs in women.”<\/p>\n One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n