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
. 2023 Jan 13:10:1026054.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1026054. eCollection 2023.

Gender difference in association between low muscle mass and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among Chinese adults with visceral obesity

Yayun Lu  1 , Qing Xia  1 , Liangyu Wu  1 , Zhiping Xie  1
Affiliations

Gender difference in association between low muscle mass and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among Chinese adults with visceral obesity

Yayun Lu et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Although the association between low muscle mass and the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is well-known, it has not been explored in viscerally obese populations by gender. Besides, whether low muscle mass still increases the NAFLD risk in subjects with visceral obesity, independent of obesity, is still unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the gender-specific association between low muscle mass and the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in subjects with visceral obesity.

Methods: Overall, 1,114 participants aged 19-89 years were recruited in this retrospective study. Liver disease was diagnosed by hepatic ultrasound. Skeletal muscle mass was estimated by bioimpedance analysis and defined by the appendicular skeletal muscle index (ASMI). Gender-specific differences in the ASMI value were compared between NAFLD and control groups. Restricted cubic spline and multivariate logistic regression were performed to analyze the association (stratified by gender and age) between the ASMI and the risk of NAFLD, respectively.

Results: Middle-aged females (40-60 years) and males (of any age) with NAFLD had a significantly lower ASMI compared with controls (P-value < 0.05). An inverse linear association was found between the ASMI and risk of NAFLD (all P fornon-linearity > 0.05). Lower quartiles of the ASMI conferred independent risk of NAFLD compared to higher quartiles (all P for trend < 0.001). Low muscle mass conferred a higher risk of NAFLD in middle-aged females (adjusted odds ratio = 2.43, 95% confidence interval: 1.19-4.95) and males [18-39 years: 3.76 (1.79-7.91); 40-60 years: 4.50 (2.16-9.39); and >60 years: 4.10 (1.13-14.84)]. Besides, Low muscle mass and low muscle mass with obesity increase the risk of developing NAFLD, independent of obesity.

Conclusion: Among those with visceral obesity, low muscle mass increased the risk of NAFLD in males of any age, and middle-aged females, this may be explained by the postmenopausal decline in estrogen.

Keywords: age; gender; low muscle mass; non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; visceral obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of ASMI value between NAFLD group and control group stratified by gender and age range. ***, P < 0.001; NS, no significant.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Dose-response relationship between ASMI and risk of NAFLD in female and male. The restricted cubic spline regression analysis was adjusted for age, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, WC, BMI, TG, LDL-c, ALT, and AST. The long dashed line represents OR is equal to 1, red line and the area between the short dashed lines means ORs and their 95% CI.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Association between low muscle mass and NAFLD risk stratified by gender and age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Younossi ZM, Koenig AB, Abdelatif D, Fazel Y, Henry L, Wymer M. Global epidemiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease-meta-analytic assessment of prevalence, incidence, and outcomes. Hepatology. (2016) 64:73–84. 10.1002/hep.28431 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benedict M, Zhang X. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an expanded review. World J Hepatol. (2017) 9:715–32. 10.4254/wjh.v9.i16.715 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Loomba R, Friedman SL, Shulman GI. Mechanisms and disease consequences of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Cell. (2021) 184:2537–64. 10.1016/j.cell.2021.04.015 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Polyzos SA, Kountouras J, Mantzoros CS. Obesity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: from pathophysiology to therapeutics. Metabolism. (2019) 92:82–97. 10.1016/j.metabol.2018.11.014 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhou YJ, Li YY, Nie YQ, Ma JX, Lu LG, Shi SL, et al. . Prevalence of fatty liver disease and its risk factors in the population of South China. World J Gastroenterol. (2007) 13:6419–24. 10.3748/wjg.v13.i47.6419 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources