Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and vascular disease: State-of-the-art

Core Tip

Core tip: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as an independent risk factor for the occurrence and progression of cardiovascular disease. In this review we have systematically analyzed the correlation between NAFLD and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) focusing on the different aspects of CVD (increased carotid intima media thickness, increased arterial stiffness, endhotelial dysfunction, impaired left ventricular function, coronary calcification, epicardic fat), on the clinical manifestations (obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, clinical consequences of microangiopathy), and on the underlying physiopathogenic mechanisms (insulin resistance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, inflammation, oxidative stress, adipokynes imbalance, coagulation imbalance, increased assumption of fructose). Furthermore, we emphasized that NAFLD, by itself, is probably an independent risk factor for the occurrence of CVD.