Yeonjung Ha1, Nieun Seo2, Ju Hyun Shim1, So Yeon Kim2, Jin-A Park1, Seungbong Han3, Kyoung Won Kim2, Eunsil Yu4, Kang Mo Kim1, Young-Suk Lim1, Han Chu Lee1, Young-Hwa Chung1, Yung Sang Lee1. 1. Department of Gastroenterology, Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. 2. Department of Radiology, Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. 3. Applied Statistics, Gachon University, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. 4. Department of Pathology, Asan Liver Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: To identify factors associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in healthy Asian subjects. METHODS: A propensity score-matched case-control study was designed. To investigate the effects of demographic and clinical factors on the presence of NAFLD, a baseline-category logit model was used. Potential living liver donors with no hepatic steatosis (< 5%: n = 1353, group 1) were considered the baseline category, and subjects with mild (5-33%: n = 724, group 2) and moderate/severe (> 33%: n = 116, group 3) hepatic steatosis were defined as cases. Age and gender were matched between cases and controls, which resulted in 83 matched subjects in each of the three groups. The area of abdominal (visceral and subcutaneous) fat was directly measured in all subjects by unenhanced computed tomography. RESULTS: Serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and visceral fat amount were directly correlated with the grade of hepatic steatosis, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were inversely correlated with it (all P values < 0.05). In a multivariate model, visceral fat amount was significantly correlated with both mild (group 2) and moderate to severe (group 3) NAFLD, with respective odds ratios (ORs) of 1.03 relative to group 1 (Ps < 0.05). Body mass index (BMI), ALT, and subcutaneous fat were significant predictors of only moderate to severe NAFLD (ORs of 0.54, 1.20, and 1.02, respectively, for group 3 vs group 1; Ps < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that visceral adiposity makes non-obese subjects more susceptible to NAFLD, compared with subcutaneous fat and BMI.
BACKGROUND AND AIM: To identify factors associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in healthy Asian subjects. METHODS: A propensity score-matched case-control study was designed. To investigate the effects of demographic and clinical factors on the presence of NAFLD, a baseline-category logit model was used. Potential living liver donors with no hepatic steatosis (< 5%: n = 1353, group 1) were considered the baseline category, and subjects with mild (5-33%: n = 724, group 2) and moderate/severe (> 33%: n = 116, group 3) hepatic steatosis were defined as cases. Age and gender were matched between cases and controls, which resulted in 83 matched subjects in each of the three groups. The area of abdominal (visceral and subcutaneous) fat was directly measured in all subjects by unenhanced computed tomography. RESULTS: Serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and visceral fat amount were directly correlated with the grade of hepatic steatosis, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were inversely correlated with it (all P values < 0.05). In a multivariate model, visceral fat amount was significantly correlated with both mild (group 2) and moderate to severe (group 3) NAFLD, with respective odds ratios (ORs) of 1.03 relative to group 1 (Ps < 0.05). Body mass index (BMI), ALT, and subcutaneous fat were significant predictors of only moderate to severe NAFLD (ORs of 0.54, 1.20, and 1.02, respectively, for group 3 vs group 1; Ps < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that visceral adiposity makes non-obese subjects more susceptible to NAFLD, compared with subcutaneous fat and BMI.
Authors: Marta Hernández-Conde; Elba Llop; Carlos Fernández Carrillo; Beatriz Tormo; Javier Abad; Luis Rodriguez; Christie Perelló; Marta López Gomez; José Luis Martínez-Porras; Natalia Fernández Puga; Maria Trapero-Marugan; Enrique Fraga; Carlos Ferre Aracil; José Luis Calleja Panero Journal: World J Gastroenterol Date: 2020-11-14 Impact factor: 5.742