Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2023; 29(45): 5962-5973
Published online Dec 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i45.5962
Association of low muscle strength with metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease: A nationwide study
Gyu Bae Lee, Youn Huh, Sang Hyun Lee, Byoungduck Han, Yang-Hyun Kim, Do-Hoon Kim, Seon Mee Kim, Youn Seon Choi, Kyung Hwan Cho, Ga Eun Nam
Gyu Bae Lee, Byoungduck Han, Yang-Hyun Kim, Do-Hoon Kim, Seon Mee Kim, Youn Seon Choi, Kyung Hwan Cho, Ga Eun Nam, Department of Family Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul 02841, South Korea
Youn Huh, Department of Family Medicine, Uijeongbu Eulji Medical Center, EULJI University, Daejeon 11759, South Korea
Sang Hyun Lee, School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea
Author contributions: Nam GE designed the study; Nam GE and Huh Y were responsible for developing the methodology; Nam GE, Huh Y, Lee GB, and Lee SH participated in the formal analysis and investigation; Lee GB wrote the original draft; Lee GB, Han B, Kim YH, Kim DH, Kim SM, Choi YS, Cho KH, and Nam GE participated in the review and editing; Nam GE acquired funding.
Institutional review board statement: The institutional review board of the Korea University Guro Hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea approved the study protocol (No. 2022GR0322).
Informed consent statement: Signed informed consent was obtained from all participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors disclose no conflicts.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ga Eun Nam, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, 73 Goryeodae-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, South Korea. silver79@korea.ac.kr
Received: August 1, 2023
Peer-review started: August 1, 2023
First decision: September 30, 2023
Revised: October 30, 2023
Accepted: November 17, 2023
Article in press: November 17, 2023
Published online: December 7, 2023
Processing time: 121 Days and 15 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Limited evidence exists regarding the association between muscle strength and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). This nationwide cross-sectional study analyzed 17349 individuals in the general community who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and measured their grip strength between 2015 and 2018. Among the participants, 29.3% had MAFLD. The prevalence of MAFLD was significantly higher in the lower muscle strength quartiles. The odds ratios of MAFLD were significantly increased in the lower muscle strength quartile groups in a dose-response manner. Among Korean adults, low muscle strength was associated with an increased risk of MAFLD and liver fibrosis in patients with MAFLD.