title: From the liver to the heart: Cardiac dysfunction in obese children with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
abstract: In the last decades the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has increased as a consequence of the childhood obesity world epidemic. The liver damage occurring in NAFLD ranges from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis and cirrhosis. Recent findings reported that fatty liver disease is related to early atherosclerosis and cardiac dysfunction even in the pediatric population. Moreover, some authors have shown an association between liver steatosis and cardiac abnormalities, including rise in left ventricular mass, systolic and diastolic dysfunction and epicardial adipose tissue thickness. In this editorial, we provide a brief overview of the current knowledge concerning the association between NAFLD and cardiac dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Anna Di Sessa, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Department of Woman and Child and General and Specialized Surgery, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, 80138 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Sessa
authors.affiliation: Anna Di Sessa, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Department of Woman and Child and General and Specialized Surgery, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, 80138 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina Rosaria
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Umano
authors.affiliation: Anna Di Sessa, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Department of Woman and Child and General and Specialized Surgery, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, 80138 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miraglia Del Giudice
authors.affiliation: Anna Di Sessa, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano, Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice, Department of Woman and Child and General and Specialized Surgery, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, 80138 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Santoro
keywords: Cardiac dysfunction; Cardiovascular risk; Children; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease atherosclerosis