You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Cardiac risk factors and prevention
Original article
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome and subclinical cardiovascular changes in the general population
  1. Nan Hee Kim1,
  2. Juri Park2,
  3. Seong Hwan Kim3,
  4. Yong Hyun Kim3,
  5. Dong Hyuk Kim3,
  6. Goo-Yeong Cho4,
  7. Inkyung Baik5,
  8. Hong Euy Lim6,
  9. Eung Ju Kim6,
  10. Jin Oh Na6,
  11. Jung Bok Lee7,
  12. Seung Ku Lee8,
  13. Chol Shin8
  1. 1Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
  2. 2Division of Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, Korea
  3. 3Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
  4. 4Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea
  5. 5Department of Foods and Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea
  6. 6Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University Guro Hospital, Seoul, Korea
  7. 7Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
  8. 8Institute of Human Genomic Study, Korea University Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Korea
  1. Correspondence to Professor Seong Hwan Kim, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Korea University Ansan Hospital, 516 Gojan-1-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do 425-707, Korea; cardioguy{at}korea.ac.kr

Abstract

Objective The effect of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) on cardiovascular system remains controversial. We investigated the independent contribution of NAFLD to cardiovascular structure and function in the general population.

Methods A total of 1886 participants without known cardiovascular disease were enrolled from the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study. The participants were divided into four groups, based on the presence of NAFLD, metabolic syndrome (MetS), neither or both. NAFLD was diagnosed by CT. Changes in cardiovascular structure and function were assessed by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) echocardiography, carotid ultrasound and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV).

Results In multivariate analyses, subjects with both NAFLD and MetS had a higher E/Ea ratio and baPWV, as well as a lower TDI Ea velocity (all p<0.001) than those with neither NAFLD nor MetS. Subjects with either NAFLD or MetS also showed significant differences in TDI Ea velocity and baPWV (all p<0.05). However, no significant differences of carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) values were seen among the four groups. Multivariate linear regression revealed that both NAFLD and MetS were independent predictors of TDI Ea velocity and baPWV (all p<0.001). Both MetS and NAFLD were not a determinant of CIMT.

Conclusions NAFLD was associated with early alterations of cardiovascular system, independent of established cardiovascular risk factors and MetS.

https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2013-305099

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text