(May 5, 2014) By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
CHICAGO -- Lean people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) had twice the mortality of their overweight and obese counterparts in a long-term international study.
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Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Note that this prospective cohort study of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease demonstrated an association between normal BMI and increased mortality.
Be aware that those with normal BMI had less fibrosis but more inflammation on liver biopsy, suggesting that different pathophysiologic processes may be at play in this ...
"Lean patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease have a distinct medical phenotype as compared to their overweight and obese counterparts. Thus, further studies of this population are warranted."
The findings surprised investigators because of the widely held perception that non-obese patients with NAFLD have better outcomes as compared with overweight patients, said Paul Angulo, MD, also of the University of Kentucky.
"These findings indicate that the risk factors for fatty liver disease go beyond a person's body weight or body mass index," Angulo said. "This is the first study to look at such a large number of lean patients with fatty liver disease. Our findings have implications for future research into other characteristics, such as fat distribution and cell signaling proteins."
The prevalence of NAFLD has increased with the proportion of Americans who are obese, currently estimated at one in three adults and one in 10 adolescents. Obesity, central obesity, and metabolic syndrome are the most common risk factors for NAFLD, although a substantial proportion of patients are not overweight.
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