Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common chronic liver diseases with a high prevalence in the general population. The association between NAFLD and cardiovascular disease has been well addressed in previous studies. However, whether NAFLD is associated with carotid artery disease in a community-based Chinese population remained unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between NAFLD and carotid artery disease.
Methods: A total of 2612 participants (1091 men and 1521 women) aged 40 years and older from Jidong of Tangshan city (China) were selected for this study. NAFLD was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasonography. The presence of carotid stenosis or plaque was evaluated by carotid artery ultrasonography. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between NAFLD and carotid artery disease.
Results: Participants with NAFLD have a higher prevalence of carotid stenosis (12.9% vs. 4.6%) and carotid plaque (21.9% vs. 15.0%) than those without NAFLD. After adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, income, physical activity, diabetes, hypertension, triglyceride, waist-hip ratio, and high-density lipoprotein, NAFLD is significantly associated with carotid stenosis (odds ratio [OR]: 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.45-2.91), but the association between NAFLD and carotid plaque is not statistically significant (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.8-1.40).
Conclusion: A significant association between NAFLD and carotid stenosis is found in a Chinese population.
一项基于中国社区人群中非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉疾病之间关联的横断面研究摘要背景：非酒精性脂肪性肝（NAFLD）是一种在一般人群中患病率较高的常见慢性肝病。以往的研究已经证明了非酒精性脂肪肝与心血管疾病之间存在关联。然而，在中国的社区人群中非酒精性脂肪肝是否与颈动脉疾病存在关联仍不清楚。本研究的目的就是探讨非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉疾病之间的关联。 方法：本研究共纳入了2612名来自唐山市冀东地区，年龄在40岁及以上的受试者（1091名男性和1521名女性）。 非酒精性脂肪肝的确诊主要是通过腹部超声检查。通过颈动脉超声检查来判断颈动脉狭窄或斑块的存在。我们还采用逻辑回归的方法来分析非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉疾病之间的关联。 结果：患有非酒精性脂肪肝的受试者中颈动脉狭窄患病率（12.9％vs 4.6％）和颈动脉斑块患病率（21.9％vs 15.0％）均高于未患有非酒精性脂肪肝的受试者。在调整年龄，性别，吸烟状况，收入，体力活动，糖尿病，高血压，甘油三酯，腰臀比和高密度脂蛋白等因素后，我们发现非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉狭窄显著相关(OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.45-2.91)，但非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉斑块之间的关联却无统计学意义(OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.86-1.40)。 结论：在中国人群中，非酒精性脂肪肝与颈动脉狭窄之间存在显著关联。.
Keywords: Association; Carotid Artery Disease; Carotid Stenosis; Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.