Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with late but not early atherosclerotic lesions in Chinese inpatients with type 2 diabetes.

AIMS: To investigate the association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and carotid and lower limb atherosclerotic lesions in a large group of hospitalized-based type 2 diabetic population and to assess the prevalence and characteristics of NAFLD in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

METHODS: A total of 8571 patients (4804 men) with T2DM were included in this cross-sectional study. The main outcome measures were detection of NAFLD, carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT), carotid and lower limb atherosclerotic plaque formation, and classical risk factors.

RESULTS: The prevalence of carotid (56.5% vs. 44.5%; p<0.001) and lower limb plaque (56.2% vs. 48.7%; p<0.001), and carotid (11.2% vs. 6.8%; p<0.001) and lower limb stenosis (15.1% vs. 10.3%; p<0.001) was markedly higher in the diabetic patients with NAFLD than in those without, after controlling for age. However, there was no significant difference in C-IMT between diabetic patients with and without NAFLD (0.82±0.30mm vs. 0.85±0.39mm) after controlling for age. Fully adjusted multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses revealed that NAFLD was significantly associated with increased prevalence of carotid and lower limb atherosclerotic plaque but not with C-IMT. NAFLD, age, sex, longer duration of diabetes and the presence of hypertension were independently associated with carotid and lower limb atherosclerotic plaque (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION: NAFLD was not associated with elevated C-IMT but was associated with carotid and lower limb atherosclerotic plaque independent of conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors and metabolic syndrome in Chinese inpatients with T2DM.