This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Fatty liver may increase risk for heart dysfunction in patients with obesity

In a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study, researchers found that the presence of fatty liver may increase risk for myocardial dysfunction, among other cardiovascular risk factors, in patients with obesity.

“Our results may be of importance in cardiovascular risk stratification in obesity, because there is large variation in the degree of hepatic steatosis in obesity,” Ralph L. Widya, MD, of the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands, said in a press release.

Ralph L. Widya

Widya and colleagues analyzed data of 6,673 participants in the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study between September 2008 and September 2012. Of these, 714 were included in the final analysis, in which 43% were classified as having normal weight (BMI < 25 kg/m²), 44% were overweight (BMI 25-30 kg/m²) and 13% had obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²). The patients “underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy and MRI to measure hepatic triglyceride content and left ventricular diastolic heart function [ratio of peak filling rates of the early filling phase and atrial contraction (E/A ratio)],” according to the study.

Overall, results showed that an increase in hepatic triglyceride content was associated with a decrease in mean left ventricular diastolic function in patients with obesity. A 10-fold increase in hepatic triglyceride content was associated with a change in mean E/A ratio of – 0.109 (95% CI, – 0.186 to – 0.032) in patients with obesity.

“The association between hepatic triglyceride content and left ventricular diastolic function existed independently of the metabolic syndrome, suggesting that fatty liver itself could, at least in obese people, pose a risk of heart dysfunction above and beyond known cardiovascular risk factors that are clustered within the metabolic syndrome,” according to the release.

In addition, it was found that a 10-fold increase in hepatic triglyceride content was associated with a change in mean E/A ratio of – 0.004 (95% CI, − 0.134-0.125) among the entire study population, a change in mean E/A ratio of − 0.194 (95% CI, − 0.43-0.042) among the group of patients with normal weight and a change in mean E/A ratio of .079 (95% CI, − 0.09-0.248) among the overweight patients.

“One of the unique aspects of our study is that we took all of the individual components of the metabolic syndrome into account as possible confounders in this association, as the metabolic syndrome is associated with [nonalcoholic fatty liver disease] and with cardiovascular disease,” Widya said in the release.

The researchers concluded: “The association in the obese subgroup was small, and future studies with larger sample sizes are required to investigate to what extent the association exists and differs in normal weight, overweight and obese persons to unravel its clinical relevance.” – by Melinda Stevens

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.