Waist Measurement: Predictor of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Rebecca Lewis April 25, 2016

Barcelona, Spain - Recent study presented at The International Liver Congress TM 2016 shows that the fat build up in the waist can cause a serious complication than that of obesity in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

NAFLD is a condition in which fat builds up in the liver, which in some cases, this fat accumulation can cause liver inflammation which will eventually results to permanent scarring or cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a serious condition which will affect the ability of the liver to function. NAFLD is also linked to obesity in which 80% of the obese patients had been reported to have NAFLD. Diabetes, high blood pressure and even death are also linked to the lean form of the disease.

According to Dr Rosa Lombardi, Unit of Internal Medicine, Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan, Italy and author, that even though NAFLD is commonly associated with obesity, research also stated that percentage of patients are not obese, which shows that the patients with lean-NAFLD who have increased levels of fats in the waist were in higher risk than those who are obese patients with NAFLD.

There are 323 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD were evaluated by the researchers in the Italian study that features lean-NAFLD. They are divided according to BMI (<25kg/m2 defined as lean-NAFLD), waist circumference and abdominal fat. This study found that those NAFLD patients that measures greater than 35/40 inches in waist circumference for both males and females were associated with metabolic syndrome (p=0.001) (the combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity) carotid plaques (p=0.03) (the build-up of fatty substances and cholesterol deposit in the carotid artery), and significant fibrosis (p=0.03)(the first stages of liver scarring) significantly compared to the obese NAFLD patients. This is also proven to be true even to those patients with normal weight (lean-NAFLD).

The said research also recommended that the metabolic, cardiovascular and tissue complications caused by the NAFLD can be more accurately detected by combining the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the waist measurements.

According to Professor Frank Tacke, EASL Governing Board Member, the study has proven that the sternness of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is not necessarily linked to how obese the person is but instead by how much fat build-up they have around their waist. This results also raised the need for more research into why analysing someone’s waist instead of the weight is significant in identifying the person’s risk for complications associated with NAFLD.

source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-04-waist-weightthe-key-non-alcoholic-fatty.html