Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease shares many features of metabolic syndrome and its presence could signify a substantial cardiovascular risk.
Aim: This study is an attempt to investigate the association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with carotid intima-media thickness and plaque as surrogate measures of increased cardiovascular risk.
Methods: Carotid atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors were assessed in 52 patients with an ultrasound diagnosis of NAFLD and 50 age and sex matched controls attending the MGE OPD, MMC & RGGGHS, Chennai from February 2017 to January 2018 were prospectively evaluated. Anthropometric factors like waist circumference and blood pressure was measured, fasting serum samples were analyzed for glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol and its fractions, alanine and aspartate transaminase. Liver ultrasonographic scanning was used for assessing fatty liver. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by B-mode ultrasonography of common carotid artery and internal carotid artery and the relation between the two was observed. The maximum CIMT (MCIMT) was measured and the average measurement was used. The metabolic syndrome and its traits were significantly (P<0.005) more frequent in NAFLD patients than in control subjects. Patients with NAFLD showed more carotid atherosclerosis than controls, with mean intima-media thickness (IMT) of 0.85±0.30 mm and 0.48±0.17 mm (P<0.0001) and plaque prevalence of 62% and 28% (P=0.020), respectively.
Results: The level of carotid intima-medial thickness was more in cases than in controls which was statistically significant.
Conclusion: Patients with NAFLD show a cluster of risk factors of the metabolic syndrome and advanced carotid atherosclerosis. NAFLD appears to be a feature of the metabolic syndrome, and its detection on abdominal ultrasound should alert to the existence of an increased cardiovascular risk.
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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