PLoS ONE (Jan 2017)

The differing influence of several factors on the development of fatty liver with elevation of liver enzymes between genders with metabolic syndrome: A cross-sectional study.

  • Masahiro Sogabe,
  • Toshiya Okahisa,
  • Masahiko Nakasono,
  • Hiroshi Fukuno,
  • Yoshihiko Miyamoto,
  • Yasuyuki Okada,
  • Jun Okazaki,
  • Jinsei Miyoshi,
  • Tetsu Tomonari,
  • Tatsuya Taniguchi,
  • Takahiro Goji,
  • Shinji Kitamura,
  • Hiroshi Miyamoto,
  • Naoki Muguruma,
  • Tetsuji Takayama

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177925
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 6
p. e0177925

Abstract

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BACKGROUND:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is known to be strongly associated with obesity, visceral fat, metabolic syndrome (MS), lifestyle, and lifestyle-related diseases in both males and females. However, the prevalence of NAFLD, MS, and clinical backgrounds is different between males and females. OBJECTIVE:We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine the differing influence of lifestyle-related factors and visceral fat on fatty liver (FL) with elevation of liver enzymes between males and females with MS. METHODS:We enrolled 42,134 persons who underwent a regular health check-up, and after excluding subjects who fulfilled excluding criteria, the remaining subjects were 2,110 persons with MS. We examined the differing influence of lifestyle-related factors and visceral fat on FL with elevation of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (ALT elevation was defined as ALT level of ≥31 IU/l in the present study). RESULTS:The odds rations for FL with ALT elevation were as follows: WC, 1.83 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.36-2.46); dyslipidemia, 1.89 (95% CI 1.34-2.68); hemoglobin A1c, 1.36 (95% CI 1.00-1.85); visceral fat type MS (V-type MS), 5.78 (95% CI 4.29-7.80); and light drinker, 0.56 (95% CI 0.41-0.78) in males with MS and BMI, 2.18 (95% CI 1.43-3.33); WC, 1.85 (95% CI 1.27-2.70); diastolic blood pressure, 1.69 (95% CI 1.16-2.45); triglyceride, 2.22 (95% CI 1.56-3.17); impaired glucose tolerance, 1.66 (95% CI 1.11-2.47); and V-type MS, 3.83 (95% CI 2.57-5.70) in females with MS. The prevalence of FL with ALT elevation and ALT was significantly higher in V-type MS than in the subcutaneous fat type MS in both males and females with MS (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION:Although V-type MS and WC is a common significant predictor of an increased prevalence of FL with ALT elevation in both males and females with MS, gender, lifestyle-related factors, and MS type in individuals with MS should be considered for the development of FL with ALT elevation.