Carotid lesions in outpatients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Table 1 Clinical, anthropometrical and ultrasound characteristics of the study sample (n = 154)

Variable	Value
Age (yr)	59.6 ± 14.2
Gender (male)	75 (48.7)
BMI (kg/m2)	26.1 ± 4.3
Diabetes	15 (9.7)
Hypertension	61 (39.6)
Dyslipidemia	53 (34.4)
Smoking
Never	82 (53.3)
1-20 pack-years1	56 (36.4)
> 20 pack-years1	16 (10.4)
SFT (mm)	19.1 ± 6.3
VFT (mm)	51.6 ± 21.7
NAFLD	90 (58.4)
c-IMT (mm)	0.80 ± 0.18
Carotid plaque	76 (49.4)

Data are mean ± SD, or n (%).

¹Both current and former smokers. BMI: Body mass index; Pack-years: Packs of cigarettes smoked daily x years of smoking; SFT: Subcutaneous fat thickness; VFT: Visceral fat thickness; NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; c-IMT: Common carotid intima-media thickness.

Table 2 Univariate associations of NAFLD with cardiovascular risk factors

Variable	No NAFLD (n = 64)	NAFLD (n = 90)	P value1
Age (yr)	60.1 ± 15.6	59.3 ± 13.2	0.72
Gender (male)	29 (45.3)	46 (51.1)	0.59
BMI (kg/m2)	24.5 ± 3.4	27.2 ± 4.5	< 0.001
Diabetes	3 (4.7)	12 (13.3)	0.13
Hypertension	22 (34.4)	39 (43.3)	0.34
Dyslipidemia	16 (25.0)	37 (41.1)	0.05
Smoking
Never	34 (53.1)	48 (53.3)	0.93
1-20 pack-years	24 (37.5)	32 (35.6)
> 20 pack-years	6 (9.4)	10 (11.1)
SFT (mm)	17.6 ± 5.2	20.2 ± 6.9	0.01
VFT (mm)	43.9 ± 16.7	57.0 ± 23.4	< 0.001

Data are mean ± SD, or n (%).

¹χ² test (nominal data); ANOVA or Kruskal Wallis when appropriate (continuous data).

Table 3 Univariate associations of c-IMT with cardiovascular risk factors

Variable	c-IMT		P value1
	mean ± SD (mm)	Rho
Gender			0.27
Male	0.81 ± 0.19
Female	0.78 ± 0.17
Age (yr)		0.45	< 0.001
BMI (kg/m2)		0.3	< 0.001
< 25	0.76 ± 0.18		0.02
25-30	0.82 ± 0.14
> 30	0.86 ± 0.22
Hypertension			< 0.001
Yes	0.88 ± 0.17
No	0.74 ± 0.17
Dyslipidemia			0.006
Yes	0.85 ± 0.18
No	0.77 ± 0.17
Diabetes			0.001
Yes	0.95 ± 0.21
No	0.78 ± 0.17
Smoking			0.03
Never	0.79 ± 0.18
1-20 pack-years	0.78 ± 0.18
> 20 pack-years	0.91 ± 0.19
VFT (mm)		0.21	0.01
SFT (mm)		0.08	0.32

Rho: Spearman’s correlation coefficient between continuous variables and c-IMT;

¹ANOVA (nominal data) or Spearman’s Rho (continuous data).

Table 4 Unadjusted and adjusted associations of NAFLD with c-IMT and presence of plaque

Variable	No NAFLD (n = 64)	NAFLD (n = 90)	P value1
c-IMT (mm)	0.71 ± 0.15	0.86 ± 0.18	< 0.001
c-IMT adjusted (mm)	0.72 ± 0.10	0.84 ± 0.10	< 0.001
Carotid plaque [RR (95% CI)]	1	1.54 (1.07-2.22)	0.02
Carotid plaque adjusted [RR (95% CI)]	1	1.85 (1.33-2.57)	< 0.001

¹ANCOVA (c-IMT) and Cox regression with constant risk period and robust variance estimate (RR of carotid plaque). Adjustments for age, sex, BMI, smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes. RR: Relative risk (prevalence ratio); CI: Confidence interval.