Fatty Liver Index (FLI) Identifies Not Only Individuals with Liver Steatosis but Also at High Cardiometabolic Risk.
Fabrizia CarliSilvia SabatiniMelania GagginiAnna Maria SironiGiorgio BedogniFrancesco RubinoPublished in: International journal of molecular sciences (2023)
A fatty liver index (FLI) greater than sixty (FLI ≥ 60) is an established score for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which carries a high risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, while a FLI ≤ 20 rules out the presence of steatosis. Thus, we investigated whether FLI was associated with cardiometabolic risk factors, i.e., visceral (VAT), subcutaneous (SC), epicardial (EPI), extrapericardial (PERI), and total cardiac (CARD-AT) adipose tissue, hepatic fat ((by magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, and spectroscopy, MRS), and insulin resistance (IR, HOMA-IR and OGIS-index), and components of metabolic syndrome. All individuals with FLI ≥ 60 had MASLD, while none with FLI ≤ 20 had steatosis (by MRS). Subjects with FLI ≥ 60 had a higher BMI and visceral and cardiac fat (VAT > 1.7 kg, CARD-AT > 0.2 kg). FLI was positively associated with increased cardiac and visceral fat and components of metabolic syndrome. FLI, VAT, and CARD-AT were all associated with IR, increased blood pressure, cholesterol, and reduced HDL. For FLI ≥ 60, the cut-off values for fat depots and laboratory measures were estimated. In conclusion, FLI ≥ 60 identified not only subjects with steatosis but also those with IR, abdominal and cardiac fat accumulation, increased blood pressure, and hyperlipidemia, i.e., those at higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Targeted reduction of FLI components would help reduce cardiometabolic risk.
Keyphrases
- insulin resistance
- adipose tissue
- metabolic syndrome
- high fat diet
- cardiovascular disease
- magnetic resonance imaging
- blood pressure
- type diabetes
- high fat diet induced
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- left ventricular
- risk factors
- skeletal muscle
- fatty acid
- computed tomography
- heart failure
- oxidative stress
- contrast enhanced
- glycemic control
- genome wide
- weight loss
- drug delivery
- single molecule
- hypertensive patients
- high speed