The central role of the non alcoholic fatty liver disease in metabolic syndrome.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) covers a spectrum of liver disease from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and cirrhosis. Most NAFLD patients are hyperinsulinaemic and more insulin resistant compared with nonsteatotic healthy subjects, and there is a near universal association between NAFLD and insulinresistance (IR) irrespective of obesity. The metabolic syndrome (MS) is highly prevalent in the general adult population (approximatively 22%) and it carries an increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Pathophysiologic considerations, clinical associations, and laboratory investigations support that IR and hyperinsulinaemia have a central role in pathogenesis of both MS and NAFLD. The fatty liver is resistant to the action of insulin to suppress hepatic glucose production, which results in hyperglycaemia and, further, in hyperinsulinemia. The MS is associated with maldistribution of body fat, increased free fatty acids (FFAs) and IR, leading to type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia. Visceral fat is an important clinical marker of metabolic cardiovascular risk and a marker of IR in multiple tissues, independent of body mass index (BMI). NAFLD and atherosclerosis share common molecular mediators and NAFLD itself might play an early role in the development and progression of atherosclerosis. These data suggest that NAFLD should be considered part of a multi-organ system derangement in insulin sensitivity, and help explain why NAFLD is so closely linked with diabetes, MS and is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease. NAFLD may be the hepatic manifestation of the MS and raises the possibility that it may play an early role in the etiology of MS.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with cardiovascular risk factors of metabolic syndrome.

AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of steatosis and to assess its correlations with the classical cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, components of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a rural population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample of 254 subjects was enrolled in the study. Collected data included: age, gender, complete medical history, anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) measurements. The biological evaluation included metabolic and hepatic parameters. Ultrasound evaluation of steatosis relied on the criteria of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III. RESULTS: Two thirds of the study population were obese or overweight (64.96%); 32.66% had systolic BP and 27.16% diastolic BP levels higher than normal. 38% of the subjects had abnormal fasting blood glucose levels, 14.56% having glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values corresponding to pre-diabetes, and 9.84% to overt diabetes; 8% had low HDL-cholesterol and 14.96% high triglycerides (Tg) levels. MS was present in 50.8% of individuals. Only 10.8% of all subjects did not have an ultrasound appearance of steatosis; 28.8% had moderate and 32% severe steatosis. There were statistically significant differences in subjects with steatosis vs. subjects without steatosis with regard to body mass index (BMI), WC, presence of MS, and BP and Tg levels, but not to ALAT, ASAT and GGT values. CONCLUSIONS: The important prevalence of obesity, fasting hyperglycamia, steatosis and MS shows a particularly metabolic fragile population; early diagnosis and interventional strategies are mandatory.