Introduction: Visceral obesity and dyslipidemia are the two most commonly occurring components of the metabolic syndrome. Epicardial fat is a true visceral adipose tissue deposited around the heart and has characteristics of a high insulin-resistant tissue. Material and methods: The study included 66 subjects (33 cases and 33 controls). Epicardial fat thickness was measured by echocardiography on the free wall of the right ventricle from both parasternal long- and short-axis views and anthropometric and biochemical parameters were recorded. Results: Range of epicardial fat thickness varied between 0.8 to 7.3 mm. The normal cutoff value is considered to be between 1 to 4 mm. The mean epicardial fat thickness was found to be 4.3 ± 1.83 mm (mean ± standard deviation) in females and 3.5 ± 1.18 mm in males amongst the cases, and 2.4 ± 1.33 mm in females and 2.2 ± 1.02 mm in males in the control group. Epicardial fat thickness was higher in the patients with metabolic syndrome as compared to controls. There was a statistical significant correlation between epicardial adipose tissue and body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides and homeostasis model for assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA IR). Conclusion: Our data showed that epicardial adipose tissue measured by echocardiography is related to the main anthropometric and clinical parameters of metabolic syndrome which was the objective of our study. Epicardial adipose tissue measurement could be an important tool to increase the knowledge of metabolic syndrome on epidemiological basis
