# Characterization of Cardiac Fat in Atrial Fibrillation Patients Prior to Ablation Treatment
## 3 Results
### Functional Parameters and Cardiac Fat
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline
**BMI** & **Normal (n = 45)** & **Overweight (n = 79)** & **Obese (n = 74)** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Left Ventricle (LV)} \\ \hline LV-EDV (mL) & 161.7 (\(\pm\)31.8) & 161.7 (\(\pm\)30.5) \(\ddagger\) & 177.4 (\(\pm\)38.0) \# & \textless{}0.001 ** \\ LV-ESV (mL) & 62.9 (\(\pm\)17.8) & 65.2 (\(\pm\)18.7) \(\ddagger\) & 71.8 (\(\pm\)20.5) \# & 0.01 * \\ LV-Mass (g) & 107.0 (\(\pm\)21.8) & 107.6 (\(\pm\)26.6) \(\ddagger\) & 126.2 (\(\pm\)32.6) \# & \textless{}0.001 ** \\ LV-EF (\%) & 61.0 (\(\pm\)8.3) & 59.9 (\(\pm\)7.1) & 59.5 (\(\pm\)8.0) & 0.14 \\ Indexed LV-EDV (mL/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 84.5 (\(\pm\)14.0) \(\dagger\) & 78.3 (\(\pm\)11.9) & 77.3 (\(\pm\)12.9) \# & \textless{}0.001 ** \\ Indexed LV-ESV (mL/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 32.8 (\(\pm\)8.3) & 31.5 (\(\pm\)7.8) & 31.3 (\(\pm\)8.0) & 0.21 \\ Indexed LV-Mass (g/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 56.0 (\(\pm\)9.8) \(\ddagger\) & 51.8 (\(\pm\)10.3) & 55.1 (\(\pm\)11.8) & 0.03 * \\ LV-Cardiac Index (L/min/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 3.2 (\(\pm\)0.6) \(\dagger\) & 2.7 (\(\pm\)0.4) & 2.9 (\(\pm\)0.6) \# & \textless{}0.001 ** \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Left Atrium (LA)} \\ \hline LA-Volume (mL) & 73.0 (\(\pm\)20.8) \(\ddagger\) & 88.2 (\(\pm\)32.4) \(\ddagger\) & 100.1 (\(\pm\)30.7) \# & \textless{}0.001 ** \\ Indexed LA-Volume (mL/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 38.3 (\(\pm\)11.4) & 43.1 (\(\pm\)16.5) & 43.9 (\(\pm\)13.1) \# & 0.04 * \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{Right Ventricle (RV)} \\ \hline Patient RV-EDV (mL) & 178.5 (\(\pm\)47.0) & 174.6 (\(\pm\)41.3) \(\ddagger\) & 191.0 (\(\pm\)48.6) & 0.03 * \\ Patient RV-ESV (mL) & 80.1 (\(\pm\)26.5) & 78.9 (\(\pm\)26.4) & 86.3 (\(\pm\)27.5) & 0.09 \\ RV-EF (\%) & 55.3 (\(\pm\)7.7) & 55.5 (\(\pm\)7.5) & 55.1 (\(\pm\)6.6) & 0.32 \\ Indexed RV-EDV (mL/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 92.9 (\(\pm\)20.4) \(\ddagger\) & 84.3 (\(\pm\)16.4) & 83.0 (\(\pm\)17.4) \# & 0.01 * \\ Indexed RV-EV (mL/m\({}^{2}\)) a & 41.6 (\(\pm\)11.8) & 37.9 (\(\pm\)11.1) & 37.4 (\(\pm\)10.2) \# & 0.04 * \\ \hline \multicolumn{5}{c}{All variables are expressed as mean \(\pm\) SD * * value \(<\) 0.05 assessed by Kruskal-Wallis H test and adjusted using Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons: **\(p\) < 0.001; a parameter was indexed by body surface area (BSA); EDV: End-diastolic volume; ESV: End-systolic volume; EF: Ejection Fraction. \(\dagger\), difference between group 1 and 2, \(p\) < 0.05; \(\ddagger\), difference between group 2 and 3, \(p\) < 0.05; and \(\#\), difference between group 1 and 3, \(p\) < 0.05.} \\ \multicolumn{5}{c}{LV Mass} \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Anatomical and functional characteristics of the heart in atrial fibrillation patients in relation to BMI. Figure 3: Scatter plots of cardiac fat vs cardiac function stratified by BMI. (**a**) An increase in PAT area in 4-chamber view is associated with an increase in LV mass, particularly in overweight and obese patients. (**b**) An increase in total fat area is correlated to a decrease in cardiac index, most notably in overweight patients. PAT: pericardial adipose tissue; LV: Left ventricle; and BMI: body mass index.