Association between dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease incidence: a prospective cohort study

  Objective  To investigate the correlation between dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to provide references for the prevention and control of NAFLD.

  Methods  Using convenient sampling, we recruited 2 658 physical examinees (mean age = 41.98 ± 13.99, 53.3% males) without NAFLD at the First Central Hospital of Tianjin Municipality from January through December 2014. A follow-up survey was conducted among all the participants during 2018 and the correlation between baseline dyslipidemia and the incidence of NAFLD was analyzed.

  Results  By the end of follow-up in 2018, totally 875 NAFLD patients were identified among the all participants, with an incidence density of 83/1 000 person-years. The results of multivariate Cox proportional hazard risk (HR) regression analysis revealed that high baseline serum triglyceride (TG) (HR = 1.324, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.083 – 1.617) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (HR = 1.232, 95% CI: 1.030 – 1.474）could increase the incidence of NAFLD in males and high serum TG increase the incidence of NAFLD in females after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), uric acid (UA), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and blood lipid profiles.

  Conclusion  Dyslipidemia is associated with NAFLD incidence and the prevention of elevated serum TG and LDL-C might be one of effective measures for the prevention and control of NAFLD.