Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Hypertension: Clinical Variability of Comorbidity

Abstract

Introduction. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases; and considerable attention is paid to the comorbidity of NAFLD with hypertension (HT), which affects around one-third of the world's population. The combination of NAFLD with hypertension has been suggested to have a mutual potentiating effect, and hypertension affects the severity of NAFLD. The purpose: to study the features of the clinical manifestation of NAFLD in patients with hypertension. Materials and methods. The study included 115 patients with NAFLD at the stage of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. The main group consisted of 63 patients with NAFLD and HT, the comparison group included 52 patients with isolated NAFLD, and the control group was composed of 20 healthy volunteers. The patients underwent anthropometric measurements, evaluation of biochemical markers of liver functional activity, lipid profile and carbohydrate metabolism changes, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Results. A significant increase in the proportion of patients with active complaints in the group of patients with NAFLD with HT (subjective signs of liver damage, manifestations of dyspeptic and asthenic syndrome) was detected. Significant differences were found in almost all anthropometric indicators in both groups of patients with NAFLD in comparison with the control group. The level of CRP had significant differences and was 7.90 mg/l (95% CI = 7.96-8.75 mg/l), 6.55 mg/l (95% CI = 6.47-7.57 mg/l) and 2.07 (95% CI = 1.83-2.85 mg/l) in patients with NAFLD and HT, isolated NAFLD and the control group, respectively (p <0.001). Fasting glucose levels were significantly higher in both groups of examined patients with NAFLD compared with controls. Significant differences were found in the levels of total cholesterol, VLDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and atherogenic factor in patients with NAFLD depending on concomitant HT. There was no significant difference between LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in the two groups of patients with NAFLD. Conclusions. Based on the obtained data, it can be stated that GC in patients with NAFLD determines important deviations in the clinical manifestation of the disease and can be considered as a trigger factor for the progression of NAFLD.