• Ying Chen, Min Xu, Tiange Wang, Jichao Sun, Wanwan Sun, Baihui Xu, Xiaolin Huang, Yu Xu, Jieli Lu, Xiaoying Li, Weiqing Wang, Yufang Bi, and Guang Ning.
• State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Key Laboratory for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of Ministry of Health, National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center of Systems Biomedicine, Rui-Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, E-Institute of Shanghai Universities, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Clinical Center for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Rui-Jin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
• Atherosclerosis. 2015 Jul 1; 241 (1): 145-50.

ObjectiveNonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) with advanced fibrosis usually has a deteriorated prognosis, which was mainly attributed to cardiovascular cause. We investigated whether advanced fibrosis assessed by noninvasive fibrosis markers was associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in NAFLD patients.MethodsA total of 2550 participants with ultrasound confirmed NAFLD from a community based population study were included in the present analysis. NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS) derived from available parameters was calculated to assess severity of fibrosis of the NAFLD patients. The NAFLD patients with a NFS > 0.676 indicated of presence of advanced fibrosis. The carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), carotid plaques and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV) were used as the indicators of early atherosclerosis.ResultsNAFLD patients with advanced fibrosis had higher CIMT and ba-PWV, compared with those without fibrosis (CIMT: 0.65 versus 0.57 mm; ba-PWV: 1884 versus 1535 cm/s, both p < 0.0001). Participants with advanced fibrosis were more likely to have higher homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index (HOMA_IR, 3.28 versus 2.45, p < 0.0001). After adjusting the confounders, participants with advanced fibrosis associated with 1.98-folds increased risk for elevated CIMT, 2.28-folds increased risk for present carotid plaque and 2.68-folds increased risk for arterial stiffness, respectively, as compared to participants without fibrosis. After further adjustment for HOMA_IR, the positive associations did not appreciably change.ConclusionAdvanced fibrosis indicated by NFS was positively associated with CIMT, presence of carotid plaque and arterial stiffness in the NAFLD patients, independent of conventional cardiometabolic risk factors and insulin resistance.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

37 keywords...

hide…