Specific risk factors for heart disease are linked to common changes in the structure and appearance of the heart, a new UK study has found.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London say these risk factors, including male sex, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking were linked to a darker appearance of the heart muscle, as well as a change in its texture.
Writing in the latest edition of *Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine*, they describe adopting a novel approach to analysing images from heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using radiomics, a new toolkit developed with the University of Barcelona, Spain.
They studied heart MRI scans from almost 30,000 people from the UK Biobank, and radiomics enabled them to retrieve highly detailed information about the shape and texture of the heart.
The team found the heart muscle was darker in appearance and had a smoother, less complex texture in all the key risk factors studied.
Men had larger hearts and the heart muscle appeared smoother and less texturally complex when compared to women, while the heart muscle in healthy women was brighter than male hearts and had a more complex appearance.
Lead author Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, NIHR clinical lecturer in cardiology at Queen Mary, said: “Our findings provide new insights into the impact of risk factors on the heart and identify differences in the size, structure, and appearance of hearts between healthy men and women.
“The study forms part of our wider research programme aimed at developing the radiomics imaging toolkit to transform patient care.
“Our novel approach has the potential to provide faster, more accurate diagnosis of heart disease, improve our estimations of future risk of heart conditions, and better understand the processes underlying cardiovascular disease.”
The researchers have gone on to research if the observed changes in heart muscle lead to a higher risk of having significant heart problems.
“As we’ve shown that these changes are associated with known major risk factors for heart disease, it’s very likely that they represent unhealthy changes to the heart muscle. However, more research is needed to confirm this,” added Dr Raisi-Estabragh.
Raisi-Estabragh Z, Jaggi A, Gkontra P et al. Cardiac magnetic resonance radiomics reveal differential impact of sex, age, and vascular risk factors on cardiac structure and myocardial tissue. *Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine* 22 December 2021; doi:10.3389/fcvm.2021.763361
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