Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Is Not Associated with Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Abstract

this study suggests that in people with type 2 diabetes, fatty liver is not associated with cardiovascular disease. In a diabetic population, it seems that fatty liver is not a determinant factor associated with carotid IMT.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Is Associated With Atherosclerosis in Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese

“…Similarly, in another study including 101 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, fatty liver diagnosed by 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy is not associated with CIMT. 12 Comparatively, in a case-control study, patients with biopsyproven NAFLD had remarkably greater CIMT than control subjects; furthermore, the severity of liver histopathology of NAFLD patients is strongly associated with CIMT. 8 A metaanalysis including 3497 subjects confirmed that NAFLD diagnosed on ultrasonography is strongly associated with increased CIMT.…”

“…Given the different methods used to diagnose NAFLD and different populations chosen to perform studies, results are inconsistent. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] In some relatively small samples from the community population, ultrasonographically diagnosed NAFLD has been found to be independently associated with carotid atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness. 6,7 Biopsy-proven NAFLD patients had remarkably greater carotid intimamedia thickness (CIMT) compared with that of age-, sex-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched healthy subjects in a case-control study.…”

“…8 Nevertheless, in another study including 101 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, NAFLD diagnosed by 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy is not associated with CIMT. 12 Therefore, the present study aimed to extensively investigate the association between ultrasonographically diagnosed NAFLD and atherosclerosis in a large middle-aged and elderly Chinese community population.…”

No association between the degree of liver steatosis and early signs of vasculopathy in T2DM

“…Whereas the association between NAFLD, and early signs of vasculopathy, such as an increased intima-media thickness (IMT) and a decreased flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), has been reported in the general population, such an association in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is controversial. In T2DM patients with NAFLD FMD was decreased [2], whereas IMT was not different, with respect to patients without liver steatosis [3]. Should a (causative) relationship between hepatic steatosis and early signs of vasculopathy exists, the degree of liver fat should be associated with a worse endothelial function and morphology.…”

Diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

“…Using this technique and criterion, the prevalence of NAFLD in type 2 diabetic patients has been reported to be 50% [14] and 60% [15]. A study diagnosing NAFLD by MRIestimated proton density fat fraction ≥5% found NAFLD in 65% [16] and studies using ultrasound diagnosed NAFLD in 74% [17], 57% [18] and 70% [19] of patients with type 2 diabetes.…”