As the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) increases, so does the risk for death and cardiovascular disease, according to data from a large population study reported at the meeting sponsored by the European Association for the Study of the Liver.
There was a 50% increase in the adjusted all-cause morality rate when comparing patients who developed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
with those who had NAFLD (hazard ratio of 1.5). The risk of death was also five times as high when comparing patients with NASH-related cirrhosis to those with NAFLD, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 5.1.
Heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), type 2 diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) rates were also increased in patients with NAFLD, compared with those in the healthy population.
“Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has got a strong association with cardiovascular disease; it may be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but that is still open to debate,” said study 
investigator Dr. Jake Mann, who is an academic clinical fellow in pediatrics at the University of Cambridge (England).
“What isn’t quite so clear is whether or not there is progressively increasing risk of cardiovascular comorbidities as you move from NAFLD to NASH to NASH cirrhosis,” he added at the meeting, which was sponsored by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).
Source: Family Practice News