Correlation between fatty liver and coronary risk factors: a population study of elderly men and women in Nagasaki, Japan.

The relation between fatty liver, detected by ultrasonography as a marker of visceral fat accumulation, and coronary risk factors was studied in 810 elderly men and 1,273 elderly women in Nagasaki, Japan from 1990 to 1992. The prevalence of fatty liver was 3.3% in the male and 3.8% in the female non-obese participants (BMI, body mass index < 26.0 kg/m2) and 21.6% in the male and 18.8% in the female obese participants (26.0 kg/m2 < or = BMI). Fatty liver was significantly (p < 0.01) related to hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia in the men and to hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, low-HDL cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia and diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance (DM+IGT) in the women independent of age, obesity, smoking and drinking. Non-obesity with fatty liver, rather than obesity with or without fatty liver, had the highest odds ratio for hypertension and low-HDL cholesterol in the men and for hypercholesterolemia, low-HDL cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia and DM+IGT in the women. The prevalence of fatty liver is the same in elderly men and women, and fatty liver is an independent correlate of coronary risk factors in the elderly.