Epicardial adipose tissue and peripheral artery disease: protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction: Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have been found to suffer from diabetes, obesity, lipid abnormalities, including elevated levels of total and LDL-cholesterol as well as triglyceride levels. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a metabolically active fat depot, abundant in proinflammatory cytokines, and has been correlated with the extent and severity of PAD.The aim of this study is to examine this association of EATwith PADin different ages and sex. Methods and analysis: We will search the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, google scholar for unpublished or undergoing research listed in registry platforms. The update systematic review and meta-analysis will be conducted using published studies that will be identified from electronic databases (ie, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Studies that (1) examined the association betweenEAT and PAD, (2) focus on cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies, (3) wereconducted among in adults aged 40 to 70 years., (4) provided sufficient data for calculating ORs or relative risk with a 95% CI, (5) were published as original articles written in English or other languages, and (6) have been published until January 2018 will be included. Study selection, data collection, quality assessment and statistical syntheses will be conducted based on discussions among investigators. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval was not required for this study because it was based on published studies. The results and findings of this study will be submitted and published in a scientific peer-reviewed journal. Trial registration number: PROSPERO (CRD42018083417). *Correspondence to: Leonardo Roever, Department of Clinical Research, Federal University of Uberlândia, Heart Institute (InCor), Master Institute of Education President Antonio Carlos, IMEPAC, Araguari, Brazil, E-mail: leonardoroever@hotmail.com