title: Importance of cardiometabolic risk factors in the association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and arterial stiffness in adolescents.
abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide and is regarded as the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. In adults, NAFLD is a determinant of arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk, independent of the metabolic syndrome. Our aim was to ascertain if NAFLD is associated with arterial stiffness, independent of cardiometabolic factors in a population-based cohort of adolescents. The 17-year-olds (n = 964) from an Australian birth cohort had measures of anthropometry, blood pressure, fasting insulin, glucose, lipids, and NAFLD by ultrasound. Two-step cluster analysis identified youth at high metabolic risk. Measures of arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity [PWV] and augmentation index corrected for heart rate [AI@75]) were obtained using applanation tonometry. The overall prevalence of NAFLD was 13.3%. The "high risk" metabolic cluster at age 17 years included 16% males and 19% females. Compared to "low risk," the "high risk" cluster participants had greater waist circumference, triglycerides, insulin, systolic blood pressure, and lower high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (all P < 0.0001). Those who had NAFLD but were not in the "high risk" metabolic cluster did not have increased PWV or AI@75. However, males and females who had NAFLD in the presence of the metabolic cluster had greater PWV (b = 0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01 to 0.38, P = 0.037). Males who had NAFLD in the presence of the metabolic cluster had greater AI@75 (b = 6.3, 95% CI 1.9 to 10.7, P = 0.005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NAFLD is only associated with increased arterial stiffness in the presence of the "high risk" metabolic cluster. This suggests that arterial stiffness related to the presence of NAFLD is predicated on the presence of an adverse metabolic profile in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia (UWA), Nedlands, Australia; School of Paediatrics and Child Health, UWA, Nedlands, Australia.
authors.forename: Rae-Chi
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Lawrence J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Beilin
authors.forename: Oyekoya
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ayonrinde
authors.forename: Trevor A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Olynyk
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burrows
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hands
authors.forename: Leon A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Adams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000502:physiology*; D055105:Waist Circumference / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides