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Associations of subclinical atherosclerosis with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and fibrosis assessed by non‐invasive score
Author(s) -
Xin Zhuojun,
Zhu Yuanyue,
Wang Shuangyuan,
Liu Shanshan,
Xu Min,
Wang Tiange,
Lu Jieli,
Chen Yuhong,
Zhao Zhiyun,
Wang Weiqing,
Ning Guang,
Bi Yufang,
Xu Yu,
Li Mian
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
liver international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.873
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1478-3231
pISSN - 1478-3223
DOI - 10.1111/liv.14322
Subject(s) - medicine , nonalcoholic fatty liver disease , gastroenterology , subclinical infection , pulse wave velocity , fibrosis , quartile , fatty liver , odds ratio , confidence interval , disease , blood pressure
Background & Aims Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been considered as a risk factor of adverse cardiovascular prognosis, but the relationship between subclinical atherosclerosis and NAFLD remains controversial. We aimed to investigate the impact of subclinical atherosclerosis on incident NAFLD and liver fibrosis. Methods We included 3433 subjects aged ≥40 years and free of NAFLD. Brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity (ba‐PWV) and carotid intima‐media thickness (CIMT) were measured at baseline to assess subclinical atherosclerosis status. At follow‐up visit, NAFLD was diagnosed by hepatic ultrasound and fibrosis was assessed by NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS), fibrosis‐4 score (FIB‐4) and aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI). Results A total of 654 (19.1%) subjects developed NAFLD during the follow‐up period of 4.3 years. In the multivariate logistic regression models, each standard deviation (SD) increment of ba‐PWV was associated with 20% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07‐1.33), 22% (95% CI 1.08‐1.39), 17% (95% CI 1.04‐1.32) and 37% (95% CI 1.07‐1.75) higher risk of incident NAFLD, higher NFS, FIB‐4 and APRI respectively. Compared with the lowest quartile of ba‐PWV, the highest quartile ba‐PWV had 63% (95% CI 1.20‐2.22), 112% (95% CI 1.42‐3.17), 86% (95% CI 1.28‐2.69) and 201% (95% CI 1.29‐7.04) higher risk of incident NAFLD, higher NFS, FIB‐4 and APRI respectively. Besides, per SD increase of CIMT was associated with a 12% (95% CI 1.01‐1.24) higher risk of incident NAFLD. Conclusions Increased ba‐PWV was independently associated with incident NAFLD and higher probability of fibrosis, whereas CIMT was associated with incident NAFLD but not with fibrosis.