Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular concerns: The time for hepatologist and cardiologist close collaboration

Liver Stiffness Is Associated with the Burden of Carotid and Systemic Atherosclerosis in an Unorganized Cohort of Patients 40-64 Years Old

Background: The aim of the study is to research the relationship between the severity of liver fibrosis and the burden of carotid and systemic atherosclerosis. Methods: The study includes 163 patients 40 to 64 years of age without atherosclerotic CVD or liver disease. All patients underwent duplex scanning of the carotid and lower limb arteries. All patients underwent transient liver elastometry using the FibroScan (Echosens, France). Results: Carotid plaque was detected in 110 (67.5%) patients. Based on the results of linear regression analysis, relationships between liver stiffness and carotid total plaque area (r = 0.21; p = 0.025) were found. Significant relationships were established between liver stiffness and atherosclerosis burden score based on the results of linear regression (r = 0.17; p = 0.029). Liver stiffness showed moderate diagnostic performance (AUC 0.666; p = 0.01) with regard to generalized atherosclerosis. An increase in liver stiffness >4.5 kPa was associated with an odds ratio of generalized atherosclerosis of 3.48 (95% CI 1.07−11.3; p = 0.038) after adjusting confounding factors. Conclusion: Among patients 40−64 years of age without established atherosclerotic CVD and liver disease, liver stiffness directly correlates with the burden of carotid and systemic atherosclerosis. Liver stiffness showed moderate diagnostic performance (AUC 0.666; p = 0.01) with regard to generalized atherosclerosis.

Relationship Between Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors and Quality of Life in Patients with Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease

Background: Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a common cause of liver-related mortality and morbidity worldwide. However, there is a paucity of literature on the relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and quality of life (QoL) in patients with MAFLD. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the association between QoL and CVD risk factors in an Iranian MAFLD population. Methods: This study was conducted on MAFLD patients, referred to the gastroenterology clinic of a general hospital from September 2017 until September 2018. The QoL and Framingham Risk Score (FRS) were determined using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and an online web calculator, respectively. A hierarchical multiple linear regression model was developed to evaluate the association between QoL and FRS after adjusting for the sociodemographic characteristics. Results: This study was performed on 200 participants. All domains of QoL were associated with older age, hypertension, smoking, diabetes mellitus, higher systolic blood pressure, and lower high-density lipoprotein levels in the univariate regression analysis (P < 0.05 for all). Meanwhile, FRS was adversely correlated with the total QoL score (correlation coefficient: -0.49; 95% CI: -0.61, -0.35; P < 0.001). After adjusting for the sociodemographic variables, the results of the hierarchical multiple linear regression model showed that age, smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and FRS were correlated with the overall QoL score (P < 0.05 for all). Hypertension was the main predictor of the total QoL score (B = -5.51, 95% CI: -7.18, -3.68; P < 0.05). A higher FRS was inversely associated with the physical domain of QoL (B = -0.05, 95% CI: -0.09, -0.01; P < 0.05), the environment domain of QoL (B = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.09, -0.01; P < 0.05), and the total score of QoL (B = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.08, -0.02; P < 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results of this study, a higher risk of developing CVD may reduce QoL in patients with MAFLD. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were the key predictive determinants of QoL in this population. Further studies are suggested to determine if modification of the mentioned risk factors can improve QoL in MAFLD patients.