Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jun 27, 2022; 14(6): 1226-1234
Published online Jun 27, 2022. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v14.i6.1226
Prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and its association with age in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Ryosuke Yamane, Kentaro Yoshioka, Kazuhiko Hayashi, Yuko Shimizu, Yuki Ito, Komei Matsushita, Michiyo Yoshizaki, Go Kajikawa, Taro Mizutani, Atsuko Watarai, Kosuke Tachi, Hidemi Goto
Ryosuke Yamane, Kazuhiko Hayashi, Yuko Shimizu, Yuki Ito, Komei Matsushita, Michiyo Yoshizaki, Go Kajikawa, Taro Mizutani, Kosuke Tachi, Hidemi Goto, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations Meijo Hospital, Nagoya 460-0001, Aichi, Japan
Kentaro Yoshioka, Center for Liver Diseases, Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations Meijo Hospital, Nagoya 460-0001, Aichi, Japan
Atsuko Watarai, Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations Meijo Hospital, Nagoya 460-0001, Aichi, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed to the conception and design of this study; Yamane R and Yoshioka K performed data collection and analysis; Yamane R wrote the first draft of the manuscript; All the authors commented the previous versions of the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations Meijo Hospital (Approval No. 166).
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was waived because the data were analyzed anonymously based on information in the hospital database.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Kentaro Yoshioka is a consultant to Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd. and received a research grant from Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd. and scholarship grants from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and AbbVie GK. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.
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: Kentaro Yoshioka, MD, PhD, Director, Center for Liver Diseases, Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations Meijo Hospital, 1-3-1 Sannomaru, Naka-ku, Nagoya 460-0001, Aichi, Japan. kyoshiok@fujita-hu.ac.jp
Received: January 10, 2022
Peer-review started: January 10, 2022
First decision: March 8, 2022
Revised: March 24, 2022
Accepted: May 14, 2022
Article in press: May 14, 2022
Published online: June 27, 2022
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

AIM

To determine the prevalence and clinical correlates of NAFLD in a large cohort of patients with T2DM.

METHODS

Four hundred thirty-seven participants with T2DM who consulted at Meijo Hospital from April 2019 to September 2020 and underwent computed tomography (CT) were assessed. The mean age was 74 ± 13 years, and 269 were men. Hepatic attenuation minus splenic attenuation (CTL−S) less than 1 Hounsfield unit was considered fatty liver. NAFLD was defined as fatty liver in the absence of significant alcohol consumption and hepatitis virus infection. A multiple logistic regression was used to assess the independent factors associated with NAFLD.

RESULTS

NAFLD was identified in 25.2% of the participants. Young age (odds ratio [OR] = −0.945; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.922–0.969), higher hemoglobin levels (OR = 1.501, 95%CI: 1.278–1.764), lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels (OR = 0.971, 95%CI: 0.953–0.989), and the absence of dialysis (OR = 0.109, 95%CI: 0.014–0.856) were independent predictors of NAFLD.

CONCLUSION

NAFLD was detected with CT in 25.2% of the participants. NAFLD was associated with younger age, higher hemoglobin levels, lower HDL cholesterol levels, and an absence of dialysis.

Keywords: Age, Computed tomography, Dialysis, Hemoglobin, Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Core Tip: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The prevalence of NAFLD by computed tomography (CT) has been reported in a few studies. The clinical correlates of NAFLD are often ambiguous. We determined the prevalence and clinical correlates of NAFLD determined by CT in a large cohort of patients with T2DM. The prevalence of NAFLD by CT was 25.2%. NAFLD was associated with younger age, higher hemoglobin levels, lower HDL cholesterol levels, and an absence of dialysis.