title: Association between liver fibrosis and coronary heart disease risk in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is being increasingly recognized as the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. It has been shown that NAFLD in adults is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Because of the limitations of liver biopsy, noninvasive scoring indexes such as the NAFLD fibrosis score (NFS) were developed. The Framingham risk score (FRS) provides an estimate of CHD risk. In our study we aimed to investigate whether the severity of liver fibrosis estimated with the NFS is associated with a higher risk of CHD among individuals with ultrasonography-diagnosed NAFLD.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 155 patients and controls (81 patients with NAFLD and 74 controls) with ages ranging from 18 to 70 years were enrolled in this cross-sectional prospective study. Demographic, anthropometric, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from each individual. The NAFLD patients were divided into subgroups on the basis of the severity of fatty liver. The FRS and NFS were adopted to predict the risk of CHD and the severity of hepatic fibrosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our study, we found that the FRS was higher in NAFLD patients than in controls (P<0.05). According to the FRS category, NFSs were higher in the intermediate/high probability CHD risk group in NAFLD (P<0.05). In multiple models, only age, sex, cholesterol, and HDL were independently associated with intermediate/high CHD risk (P<0.05). We also found a positive correlation between the NFS and the FRS (r=0.373, P<0.001). The optimum NFS cutoff point for identifying intermediate/high CHD risk in NAFLD patients was -2.1284, with a sensitivity and specificity of 95.20 and 48.30%, respectively. The predictive performance of the NFS in the determination of intermediate/high CHD risk in NAFLD patients was found to be 72% based on the area under the curve value.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FRS is associated with the NFS in NAFLD. The assessment of liver fibrosis may be useful for the risk stratification of CHD in the absence of liver biopsy in clinical practice.
authors: aDepartment of Gastroenterology, Mardin State Hospital, Mardin Departments of bGastroenterology cCardiovascular Surgery dCardiology eRadiology fInternal Medicine, School of Medicine, Bozok University, Yozgat gDepartment of Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors: Serkan
authors: S
authors: Dogan
authors: Mehmet
authors: M
authors: Celikbilek
authors: Yunus K
authors: YK
authors: Yilmaz
authors: Savas
authors: S
authors: Sarikaya
authors: Gokmen
authors: G
authors: Zararsiz
authors: Halil I
authors: HI
authors: Serin
authors: Elif
authors: E
authors: Borekci
authors: Lütfi
authors: L
authors: Akyol
authors: Ilyas
authors: I
authors: Pirti
authors: Sena E
authors: SE
authors: Davarci
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065626:Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D012372:ROC Curve; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult