The Relationship Between Arterial Stiffness and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

• Published in: Digestive diseases and sciences Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 196 - 203
• Main Authors: Lee, Yong-Jae, Shim, Jae-Yong, Moon, Byung-Soo, Shin, Youn-Ho, Jung, Dong-Hyuk, Lee, Jung-Hyun, Lee, Hye-Ree
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.01.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analysis; Ankle Brachial Index; Biochemistry; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Fatty liver; Fatty Liver - epidemiology; Female; Gastroenterology; Hepatology; Humans; Hypertension; Male; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Oncology; Original Article; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Transplant Surgery; Vascular Stiffness; Pulse wave velocity; Cardiovascular disease; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; Inflammation; Arterial stiffness
• ISSN: 0163-2116; 1573-2568
• DOI: 10.1007/s10620-011-1819-3

Aim Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common form of chronic liver disease and some studies have documented its link with cardiovascular risk factors. This study aimed to investigate the association between arterial stiffness and NAFLD. Methods Among 1,442 health check-up subjects (955 men, 487 women), we examined the association between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) as a measurement of arterial stiffness and the presence of NAFLD based on abdominal sonographic findings. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the independent association between baPWV and the presence of NAFLD in gender-specific manners. Results In multivariate regression analysis, NAFLD was found to be independently associated with baPWV in both men and women. Moreover, in multivariate logistic regression analysis, a graded independent relation was found between higher levels of baPWV and the prevalence risk of NAFLD. Odds ratios (95% CI) for the highest vs. the lowest quartile of baPWV were 1.85 (range, 1.13–2.62) in men and 3.32 (1.45–7.62) in women after adjusting for age, smoking status, regular exercise, body mass index, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes. Conclusion Arterial stiffness was independently associated with the prevalence risk for NAFLD regardless of classical CVD risk factors.