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Abstract Details
Lean Americans With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Have Lower Rates of Cirrhosis and Co-morbid Diseases
Ethan M Weinberg1, Huy N Trinh2, Roberto J Firpi3, Kalyan Ram Bhamidimarri4, Samuel Klein5, Jonathan Durlam6, Stephanie Watkins6, K Rajender Reddy1, Michael Weiss7, Richard C Zink6, Anna S Lok8
Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Jul 3;S1542-3565(20)30930-7. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2020.06.066.Online ahead of print.
Author information
1University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
2San Jose Gastroenterology, San Jose, CA.
3University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
4University of Miami, Miami, FL.
5Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
6TARGET PharmaSolutions, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC.
7Gastro Florida, Clearwater, FL.
8University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Electronic address: aslok@med.umich.edu.
Abstract
Background & aims: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is typically associated with obesity. Little is known about the prevalence of cirrhosis in patients with NAFLD and a normal body mass index (BMI).
Methods: We determined prevalence of cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and metabolic abnormalities among participants in all BMI categories in the TARGET-NASH study. A total of 3386 patients with NAFLD were enrolled from August 2016 through March 2019. The odds ratios of cirrhosis, CVD, and metabolic abnormalities were estimated by age and race, adjusting for sex and center type.
Results: Based on standard BMI cutoff values, 12.8% of study subjects were lean, 27.1% were overweight, 26.5% had class 1 obesity, and 33.7% had class 2 or 3 obesity. Asians accounted for 48.7% of lean participants, and proportions decreased as BMI categories increased (P<.0001). Lower proportions of lean participants had cirrhosis (22.6% vs 40.2% of non-lean participants), CVD history (9.0% vs 14.8% of non-lean participants), diabetes (32.6% vs 53.5% of non-lean participants), hypertension (47.8% vs 67.4% of non-lean participants), or dyslipidemia (54.0% vs 64.1% of non-lean participants). Asian participants had a lower prevalence of cirrhosis, history of CVD, cardiovascular events, and diabetes compared with non-Asians, independent of BMI category. After we adjusted for age, sex, and center type and site, the odds of NAFLD-associated cirrhosis in Asians who were lean was almost half the odds of NAFLD-associated cirrhosis in non-Asians who were lean (odds ratio, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.29-0.77).
Conclusions: More than 10% participants in a cohort of persons with NAFLD in the United States are lean; Asians account for almost half of the lean persons with NAFLD. Lean participants had a lower prevalence of cirrhosis, CVD, and metabolic abnormalities than non-lean persons with NAFLD. Asian participants had a significantly lower prevalence of cirrhosis, CVD, and metabolic abnormalities than non-Asians in all BMI categories. Clinicaltrials.gov no: NCT02815891.