Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease proven by transient elastography in hemodialysis patients: is it a new risk factor for adverse cardiovascular events?

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Recently, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been recognized as a new risk factor for adverse CVD events in the general population. Our aim was to analyze the incidence of NAFLD in HD patients by using transient elastography and to analyze whether the presence of NAFLD is associated with a higher CVD risk in HD patients.
METHODS: The subjects were 72 HD patients and 50 sex- and age-matched controls.
RESULTS: NAFLD was found in 52.8% of HD patients. HD patients with NAFLD showed more carotid atherosclerosis and more adverse CVD events than HD patients without NAFLD and control subjects.
CONCLUSION: We showed for the first time that HD patients have a high prevalence of NAFLD. HD patients with NAFLD show an advanced carotid atherosclerosis. Detection of NAFLD by transient elastography should alert to the existence of an increased cardiovascular risk in HD patients.