Comparison of anthropometric measurements for prediction of the atherosclerosis and liver histology in young adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

AIM: Anthropometry is a good evaluation tool that establishes the association between body fat distribution and metabolic risk factors precisely. The aim of this study was to test the association of anthropometric measurements with subclinical atherosclerosis and liver fibrosis. METHODS: A total of 78 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) patients who had no known cardiovascular disease risk factors and 26 volunteered healthy controls were enrolled. Patients with suspected fatty liver underwent a liver biopsy. BMI, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference, and neck circumference (NC) were measured. To detect the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis, carotid intima-media thickness and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) were examined. RESULTS: NAFLD patients with fibrosis had higher NC, WC, and hip circumference levels, but no difference was observed between NAFLD patients without fibrosis and controls in these parameters. BMI was statistically different among the three groups (P < 0.05). After adjusting for confounding risk factors, the only significant parameter associated with histologic severity of NAFLD was WC, with odds ratio of 1.10. All anthropometric measurements were correlated positively with fibrosis, cf-PWV, and each other. While the association between BMI and cf-PWV remained significant, WC was found to be an independent risk factor for carotid intima-media thickness after adjustment of known cardiovascular risk factors. CONCLUSION: WC is the strongest predictor of liver fibrosis as the anthropometric indexes in patients with NAFLD. NC can be used as an additional useful screening test for the primary evaluation of patients with NAFLD, even if it is not an independent risk factor.