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Sex-specific metabolic risk factors and their trajectories towards the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease incidence

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Abstract

Purpose

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic liver disease. This study examined sex-specific associations between NAFLD and metabolic factors and investigated the trajectory of risk factors.

Methods

We retrospectively investigated 16,140 individuals from Beijing Health Management Cohort. Univariate and multivariate time-dependent Cox regression analyses were performed to identify independent risk factors for new-onset NAFLD. The trajectory of risk factors was investigated using the latent growth curve model and growth mixture model.

Results

Over a median follow-up of 3.15 years, 2,450 (15.18%) participants developed NAFLD. The risk factors for NAFLD in men were increased body mass index (BMI); waist circumference (WC); triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), haemoglobin (Hb), and serum uric acid (SUA) levels; and platelet (PLT) count and decreased serum creatinine-to-body weight (sCr/bw) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. In women, the risk factors were increased BMI, WC, and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), TG, LDL-C, SUA, white blood cell (WBC), and PLT and decreased sCr/bw and HDL-C levels. In addition, BMI, LDL-C, sCr/bw and PLT changing trajectories were associated with NAFLD in men; BMI, WC, TG, LDL-C, SUA and sCr/bw trends was associated with NAFLD risk in women.

Conclusions

Development of NAFLD is associated with BMI, LDL-C, sCr/bw and PLT changing trajectories in men; BMI, WC, TG, LDL-C, SUA and sCr/bw trends are associated an increased risk of NAFLD in women. Deterioration of metabolic risk factors status can be a predictor of NAFLD many years before its occurrence.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the data management team of the Beijing Physical Examination Center and the medical staff who collected the data.

Funding

This study was supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation [Grant numbers 7202010] and the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant numbers 2020YFC2003404].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, 10 Xitoutiao, Youanmen, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100069, China

    C. Tong, X. Ni, A. Halengbieke, Z. Wu, L. Tao, D. Zheng, X. Guo & X. Yang

  2. Beijing Municipal Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, No. 10 Xitoutiao, Youanmen, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100069, China

    C. Tong, X. Ni, A. Halengbieke, Z. Wu, L. Tao, D. Zheng, X. Guo & X. Yang

  3. Science and Education Section, Beijing Physical Examination Center, No. 59, Beiwei Road, Xicheng district, Beijing, China

    Q. Li & Y. Han

  4. Information Center, Beijing Physical Examination Center, No. 59, Beiwei Road, Xicheng district, Beijing, China

    L. Kong

  5. Medical Records Statistics Office, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, 100034, China

    S. Zhang

Authors
  1. C. Tong
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the manuscript preparation. CT analysed the data, contributed to the interpretation of the results, and wrote the manuscript; QL, LK, SZ, and YH organized the data and conducted statistical analyses; XN, AH, and ZW reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission; DZ, LT, XG and XY conceived the analysis plan and reviewed the manuscript before submission. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to X. Yang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Capital Medical University Ethics Committee (number: 2019SY088). All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from the individual participant included in the study. The research do not involve animals.

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Tong, C., Li, Q., Kong, L. et al. Sex-specific metabolic risk factors and their trajectories towards the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease incidence. J Endocrinol Invest 45, 2233–2245 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-022-01848-w

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