Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun;28(2):129-138.
doi: 10.7570/jomes.2019.28.2.129. Epub 2019 Jun 30.

Sarcopenia Is Significantly Associated with Presence and Severity of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Goh Eun Chung  1 , Min Joo Kim  1 , Jeong Yoon Yim  1 , Joo Sung Kim  1   2 , Ji Won Yoon  1
Affiliations

Sarcopenia Is Significantly Associated with Presence and Severity of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Goh Eun Chung et al. J Obes Metab Syndr. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and sarcopenia has been suggested. We investigated the association between sarcopenia and NAFLD independent of visceral adiposity and searched for the clinical characteristics that affect this association.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study including of 5,989 subjects (mean age, 53.2 years; men, 57.3%) who underwent bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and abdominal ultrasonography in 2012. The appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was assessed by BIA method. Sarcopenia was defined as ASM/weight (ASM%) <2 standard deviation of the mean for healthy young reference population. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography.

Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia was 5.3%. The prevalence of NAFLD was significantly higher in subjects with sarcopenia than in those without (69.5% vs. 36.5%, P<0.001). After adjusting with age, sex, visceral fat area, hypertension, diabetes, total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, subjects with sarcopenia showed significantly high odds of NAFLD (odds ratio [OR], 1.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.84; P=0.036). Subjects with sarcopenia have more likely severe grade of NAFLD compared to non-sarcopenic group (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.25-2.00; P<0.001). There was significant interaction for effect modification in the association between sarcopenia and NAFLD by age (P of interaction for effect modification, 0.007).

Conclusion: Sarcopenia was significantly associated with the presence and the severity of ultrasonography-graded NAFLD in our study population independent of visceral fatness and other metabolic confounder. Younger age showed greater magnitude of association between sarcopenia and NAFLD.

Keywords: Intra-abdominal fat; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic subjects according to obesity status.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease according to (A) sarcopenia and (B) appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM)% quartiles (Qs).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Vernon G, Baranova A, Younossi ZM. Systematic review: the epidemiology and natural history of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in adults. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2011;34:274–85. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2011.04724.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adams LA, Lymp JF, St Sauver J, Sanderson SO, Lindor KD, Feldstein A, et al. The natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a population-based cohort study. Gastroenterology. 2005;129:113–21. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2005.04.014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ekstedt M, Franzén LE, Mathiesen UL, Thorelius L, Holmqvist M, Bodemar G, et al. Long-term follow-up of patients with NAFLD and elevated liver enzymes. Hepatology. 2006;44:865–73. doi: 10.1002/hep.21327. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rafiq N, Bai C, Fang Y, Srishord M, McCullough A, Gramlich T, et al. Long-term follow-up of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2009;7:234–8. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2008.11.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brunt EM, Wong VW, Nobili V, Day CP, Sookoian S, Maher JJ, et al. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2015;1:15080. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2015.80. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources