Korean Circ J.  2020 Aug;50(8):695-705. 10.4070/kcj.2019.0379.

A Close Relationship between Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Markerand New-Onset Hypertension inHealthy Korean Adults

• Roh JH
• Park JH
• Lee H
• Yoon YH
• Kim M
• Kim YG
• Park GM
• Lee JH
• Seong IW

• KMID: 2505123
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2019.0379

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an excessiveaccumulation of fat into the liver as a result of increased inflammation and insulin resistance.Although there can be common pathogenic mechanisms for NAFLD and hypertensionassociated with the development of cardiovascular diseases, little data are showing theassociation between NAFLD and hypertension in a large-scale cohort study. Thus, weevaluated the ability of the fatty liver index (FLI), a surrogate marker of NAFLD, to predict thedevelopment of hypertension in healthy individuals.
Methods
We included 334,280 healthy individuals without known comorbidities whounderwent the National Health check-ups in South Korea from 2009 to 2014. Theassociation between the FLI and hypertension was analyzed using multivariate Coxproportional-hazards models.
Results
During a median of 5.2 years' follow-up, 24,678 subjects (7.4%) had new-onsethypertension. We categorized total subjects into quartile groups according to FLI (range: Q1,0–4.9; Q2, 5.0–12.5; Q3, 12.6–31.0; and Q4, >31.0). The incidence of hypertension was higherin subjects with the highest FLI than in those with the lowest FLI (Q4, 9,968 [11.9%] vs. Q1,2,277 [2.7%]; p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between the highest FLI and anincreased risk of new-onset hypertension (adjusted hazard ratio between Q4 and Q1, 2.330;95% confidence interval, 2.218–2.448; p<0.001). FLI was significantly associated with anincreased risk of new-onset hypertension regardless of baseline characteristics.
Conclusions
Higher FLI was independently associated with increased risk of hypertension ina healthy Korean population.

Keyword

Fatty liver, nonalcoholic; Hypertension; Healthy people programs

Figure

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  Figure 1 Overview of the study population.

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  Figure 2 Cumulative incidence of new-onset hypertension according to their quartiles. Statistical significance was determined using the log-rank test.

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  Figure 3 Forest plots of HRs for new-onset hypertension stratified by various clinical characteristics.CI = confidence interval; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; HR = hazard ratio; SBP = systolic blood pressure.

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