title: Liver Fat Assessed With CT Relates to MRI Markers of Incipient Brain Injury in Middle-Aged to Elderly Overweight Persons.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Obesity has been related to structural brain abnormalities. Increasing evidence suggests that accumulation of fat in the liver is an important determinant of cardiometabolic complications of obesity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between CT-assessed liver-to-spleen attenuation ratio as a measure of liver steatosis and MRI-assessed brain tissue integrity in middle-aged to elderly persons.
  
  
  METHODS
  CT and MRI were performed on 213 participants (114 women, 99 men; mean age, 65 ± 7 years). Brain tissue integrity was assessed by magnetization transfer imaging. Linear regression analysis was adjusted for age, sex, vascular risk factors, and total body fat estimated from bioelectrical impedance analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-nine participants had normal weight (body mass index [BMI], 18.5-24.9), and 134 were overweight (BMI ≥ 25). Significant interaction was found between liver-to-spleen ratio and BMI (p = 0.001). In the overweight group, liver fat was associated with reduced brain tissue integrity in both gray matter (standardized β = 0.22; 95% CI, 0.07-0.36) and white matter (standardized β = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.15-0.45). These associations were not found in the normal weight group (gray matter standardized β = -0.08; 95% CI, -0.33 to 0.16; white matter standardized β = -0.09; 95% CI, -0.36-0.14).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results indicate that liver fat assessed with CT relates to MRI markers of incipient brain injury in middle-aged to elderly overweight persons.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, C3-Q, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michiel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, C3-Q, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.|2 Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jeroen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Grond
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Renée
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Mutsert
authors.affiliation: 2 Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, Leiden, The Netherlands.|4 Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van Heemst
authors.affiliation: 2 Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing, Leiden, The Netherlands.|5 Department of Molecular Epidemiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P Eline
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Slagboom
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, C3-Q, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lucia J M
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Kroft
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, C3-Q, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Roos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008099:Liver / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000150:complications*; D013154:Spleen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: body fat distribution; brain MRI; liver fat; obesity