Background & Aims
To estimate the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in type 1
diabetic individuals, and to evaluate whether NAFLD is associated with increased prevalence
of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Methods
All patients with diagnosed type 1 diabetes with available liver ultrasound data (n = 250), who regularly attended our diabetes clinic, were enrolled. Main study measures
were detection of NAFLD (by patient history and liver ultrasound) and asymptomatic/symptomatic
CVD (by patient history, chart review, electrocardiogram, and echo-Doppler scanning
of carotid and lower limb arteries).
Results
The prevalence of NAFLD was 44.4%, and NAFLD was the most common cause (69.8%) of
hepatic steatosis on ultrasound examination. Patients with NAFLD had a remarkably
higher (p <0.001) age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of coronary (10.8% vs. 1.1%), cerebrovascular
(37.3% vs. 5.5%) and peripheral (24.5% vs. 2.5%) vascular disease than their counterparts
without NAFLD. In logistic regression analysis, NAFLD was associated with prevalent
CVD (as composite endpoint), independently of age, sex, diabetes duration, hemoglobin
A1c, smoking history, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and medication use (adjusted odds ratio 7.36,
95% confidence intervals 1.60–34.3, p <0.01).
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that NAFLD is very common in type 1 diabetic subjects and is
associated, independently of several confounding factors, with a higher prevalence
of CVD. Future prospective studies are needed to evaluate whether NAFLD predicts incident
CVD events in type 1 diabetes.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 29, 2010
Accepted:
April 18,
2010
Received in revised form:
March 18,
2010
Received:
February 9,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
