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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is linked to a heightened risk of heart failure over the next decade, according to new research.
The study, published in the journal Gut, looked at data from 11 long-term observational studies which included more than 11 million participants.
The participants had an average age of 55 and an average a body mass index (BMI) of 26 (a BMI between 25 and 29.9 indicates overweight). Half the participants were women.
The presence of NAFLD was associated with a 50% heightened risk of developing heart failure
Around one in four (26%) of the participants already had NAFLD, and 97,716 were diagnosed with heart failure during a follow-up period of 10 years.
Data analysis showed that the presence of NAFLD was associated with a 50% heightened risk of developing heart failure during the monitoring period. This was irrespective of age, sex, body fat, diabetes, high blood pressure, ethnicity and other common cardiovascular risk factors.
The risk seemed to increase in parallel with the severity of NAFLD, especially with more extensive liver fibrosis (scarring), when the risk was 76% higher, although this finding was based on the findings of only two studies.
While it’s not clear exactly how NAFLD might increase the risk of cardiac complications involved in the development of heart failure, it is known that the disease worsens systemic insulin resistance, promotes plaque formation, and releases a cocktail of inflammatory and blood-thickening chemicals.
The researchers say that newer diabetes drugs, which lower blood glucose, seem to have some favourable effects on the risks of hospital admission for heart failure.
Anyone with NAFLD warrants ‘careful medical monitoring’
The findings of the study are observational and cannot establish a cause, however, the researchers say the findings echo those of previously published research.
For this reason, they suggest that anyone with NAFLD warrants careful medical monitoring because of the link between this condition and heart failure.