ArticleFrontiers in aging2026
Correlation between epicardial adipose tissue and cognitive performance in older adults. A role for autonomic nervous system imbalance?
Article in Frontiers in aging, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Epicardial Adipose Tissue (EAT) is the visceral fat depot of the heart and evidence suggests that increased EAT thickness is associated with reduced cognitive performance in older adults, although the exact mechanisms remain poorly defined. Heart Rate Variability (HRV), an indicator of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, has been linked to both EAT volume and cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to assess the association between EAT thickness and cognitive status in an older population. Further, we explored, through HRV metrics, the ANS as a potential link for this association. Methods: 99 participants aged over 65 were enrolled at the outpatient clinics of the Federico II University Hospital. Participants underwent comprehensive medical and cardiological evaluations, including transthoracic echocardiography, 24 h Holter electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring, and cognitive assessment using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: A significant inverse correlation was observed between EAT thickness and MMSE scores (ρ = -0.341, p = 0.001), while EAT thickness showed a positive association with the standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) index of HRV (ρ = 0.212, p = 0.036). EAT thickness was greater in individuals with dementia compared to cognitively normal subjects, whereas the low frequency (LF)/high frequency (HF) ratio was significantly reduced in the dementia group respect to those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Multivariate analysis showed that EAT thickness was an independent predictor of MMSE scores after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, comorbid conditions, SDNN index and LF/HF. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that greater EAT thickness is independently associated with poorer cognitive performance in older adults and may reflect both increased visceral fat burden and underlying inflammatory processes. Further studies on larger cohorts are needed to clarify the mechanisms underlying the EAT-autonomic-cognition axis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.