Cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Introduction. Clinical, epidemiological and biochemical studies strongly support the concept that the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance is a common factor connecting obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia with fatty liver and the progression of hepatic disease to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Since identification of cardiovascular risk factors is the first step in their prevention, the aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence of some risk factors in patients with fatty liver. Material and Methods. The study included 130 patients who met metabolic syndrome criteria; their demographic and anthropometric characteristics were analyzed and some clinical characteristics were determined, such as smoking habit, arterial pressure and alcohol intake. Routine biochemical analyses were carried out by a standard laboratory procedure. Hepatic steatosis was detected by the abdominal ultrasound. Modified criteria of the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III were used to describe the metabolic syndrome. Results. The study group consisted of 72 subjects (55.38%), who had been found by ultrasound to have fatty liver, whereas the control group included 58 respondents (44.62%) without pathological ultrasound findings. Differences in the number of fatty liver were highly statistically significant between the groups. The values of body mass index (33.56±6.05 vs 30.56±4.23 kg/m2; p = 0.001), glucose (6.23±0.95 vs 5.76±0.88 mmol/l; p<0.01) and cholesterol (6.66±1.30 vs 6.23±0.95; p <0.05) were significantly higher in the patients with fatty liver than in those without fatty liver. Conclusion. Our results indicate that the patients from the study group had a high percentage of cardiovascular risk factors.