title: Carotid lesions in outpatients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To ascertain whether carotid lesions are more prevalent in outpatients with incidental findings of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) at abdominal ultrasound (US).
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty-four consecutive outpatients (age range 24-90 years, both sexes) referred by general practitioners for abdominal US, and drinking less than 20 g alcohol/day, underwent carotid US for an assessment of carotid intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and carotid plaque prevalence. Hepatic steatosis, visceral fat thickness and subcutaneous fat thickness were also assessed at ultrasonography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher c-IMT values were found in the presence of NAFLD (90 patients), even after adjustment for indices of general and abdominal obesity and for the principal cardiovascular risk factors (0.84 +/- 0.10 mm vs 0.71 +/- 0.10 mm, P < 0.001). The prevalence of carotid plaques was 57.8% in the patients with NAFLD vs 37.5% in the patients without this condition (P = 0.02). The adjusted relative risk of having carotid plaques for patients with NAFLD was 1.85 (95% CI: 1.33-2.57, P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An incidental finding of hepatic steatosis may suggest the presence of silent carotid atherosclerotic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Maggiore Hospital, Bologna, Italy
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramilli
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pretolani
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Muscari
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pacelli
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arienti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods