Hepatic steatosis is associated with an increased risk of carotid atherosclerosis

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of persons with and without hepatic steatosis.

	Unit	No teatosis n = 2 961	Steatosis n = 1 261	P
Age	yr	47.1±16.7	57.2±13.3	<0.001
Gender (male)		1283 (43.3%)	787 (62.4%)	<0.001
Mean daily alcohol	mg/d	10.6±16.2	16.0±23.1	<0.001
consumption
Alcohol consumption
none		1060 (35.8%)	415 (32.9%)	<0.001
mild		1331 (45.0%)	477 (37.8%)
moderate		258 (8.7%)	129 (10.2%)
heavy		294 (9.9%)	234 (18.6%)
MCV	mm³	89.9±4.4	90.6±4.8	<0.001
CDT	%	4.8±1.6	4.9±1.8	0.23
GGT	mmol/L×s	0.4±0.4	1.0±2.2	<0.001
GOT	mmol/L×s	0.3±0.1	0.5±0.3	<0.001
GPT	mmol/L×s	0.4±0.2	0.7±0.4	<0.001

χ² test (nominal data) or ANOVA (interval data). MCV, mean corpuscular volume; CDT, carbohydrate-deficient transferrin; GGT, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase; GOT, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase; GPT, glutamic pyruvic transaminase.

Table 2 Atherosclerotic risk factors in persons with and without hepatic steatosis.

	Unit	No steatosis	Steatosis	P1(unadjusted)	P2(adjusted)
		n = 2961	n = 1261
Smoking (current)		984 (33.2%)	335 (26.7%)	<0.001	0.75
Hemoglobin A1c	%	5.3±0.8	5.9±1.2	<0.001	<0.001
Diabetes mellitus		134 (4.5%)	240 (19.0%)	<0.001	<0.001
Systolic blood pressure	mmHg	133±21	146±20	<0.001	<0.001
Diastolic blood pressure	mmHg	82±11	87±11	<0.001	<0.001
Hypertension		1274 (43.0%)	945 (74.9%)	<0.001	<0.001
BMI	kg/m²	26.1±4.3	30.1±4.6	<0.001	<0.001
Overweight		1657 (56.0%)	1116 (88.5%)	<0.001	<0.001
Cholesterol	mmol/L	5.7±1.2	6.1±1.3	<0.001	<0.001
LDL cholesterol	mmol/L	3.5±1.2	3.8±1.2	<0.001	0.01
HDL cholesterol	mmol/L	1.5±0.4	1.3±0.5	<0.001	<0.001
Lipoprotein (a)	mg/L	217±283	204±280	0.15	0.06
Fibrinogen	g/L	2.9±0.7	3.1±0.7	<0.001	0.26

¹χ²-test (nominal data) or ANOVA (interval data). ²Logistic regression (nominal data) or analysis of covariance (interval data), adjusted for gender and age. BMI, body mass index; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; HDL, high-density lipoprotein.

Table 3 Carotid IMT and plaques in persons with and without hepatic steatosis.

	Unit	No steatosis	Steatosis	P
IMT	mm	0.784±0.172	0.811±0.170	<0.001
IMT, adjusted for gender and age	mm	0.789±0.004	0.803±0.005	<0.05
IMT, adjusted for the full model1	mm	0.813±0.004	0.806±0.005	0.34
Plaque	OR (CI)	1.0 (Ref.)	1.66 (1.38–2.00)	<0.001
Plaque, adjusted for gender and age	OR (CI)	1.0 (Ref.)	1.60 (1.30–1.97)	<0.001
Plaque, adjusted for full model1	OR (CI)	1.0 (Ref.)	1.35 (1.03–1.61)	<0.05

¹Full model included gender, age, alcohol consumption, current smoking, diabetes, hypertension, BMI, total cholesterol/HDL ratio, plasma fibrinogen levels. IMT, carotid intima-media thickness; OR, odds ratio; CI, 95% confidence interval.