Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a novel predictor of cardiovascular disease

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study participants (n = 1647)

Variables	Subjects withoutNAFLD(n = 1335)	Subjects withNAFLD(n = 312)	P
Asparate aminotransferase, U/L	17.4 ± 5.2	23.9 ± 11.2	< 0.001
Alanine aminotransferase, U/L	17.7 ± 9.6	38.8 ± 27.8	< 0.001
Gamma-glutamyltransferase, U/L	17.8 ± 18.2	34.0 ± 31.5	< 0.001
Men, n (%)	730 (54.7)	250 (80.1)	< 0.001
Age (yr)	47.8 ± 8.6	49.1 ± 8.7	0.017
The Brinkman index1	223.8 ± 359.3	358.6 ± 461.9	< 0.001
LDL-C, mmol/L	3.4 ± 0.8	3.7 ± 0.9	< 0.001
The metabolic syndrome, n (%)	87 (6.5)	119 (38.1)	< 0.001
BMI, kg/m2	21.9 ± 2.6	25.1 ± 2.5	< 0.001
Fasting plasma glucose, mmol/L	5.1 ± 0.6	5.7 ± 1.3	< 0.001
Systolic blood pressure, mmHg	114.6 ± 16.2	123.7 ± 15.9	< 0.001
Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg	71.6 ± 10.2	77.8 ± 9.7	< 0.001
HDL-C, mmol/L	1.3 ± 0.3	1.0 ± 0.2	< 0.001
Triglycerides, mmol/L	1.2 ± 0.7	1.9 ± 1.0	< 0.001
C reactive protein, mg/dL	0.1 ± 0.4	0.2 ± 0.3	0.19

NAFLD: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; LDL-C: low density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C: high density lipoprotein cholesterol. We applied unpaired t-test and the chi-square test to unpaired values between two groups.

¹The Brinkman index is the number of cigarettes per day multiplied by years of smoking. A higher value indicates increased smoking-associated health hazard.