COMMENT:
More than 35% of adolescents in the United States (US) suffer from obesity, leading to an unequal distribution of abdominal fat due to insulin resistance in adipose tissue. The imposition of stay-at-home mandates and school closures, both at a national and global level as a response to Sars-CoV-2, has exacerbated the prevalence of adolescent obesity and its associated metabolic complications. However, the effects of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic on the prevalence and severity of NAFLD among youth with obesity remain uncertain.
This study aimed to investigate the immediate impacts of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic on anthropometric and glucose metabolism measures, as well as intrahepatic fat content, in youth with overweight and obesity in the US.
KEY LEARNINGS:
Patients of the same age and BMI were separated into four groups – those with and without NAFLD pre-Sars-CoV-2 and those with and without NAFLD during Sars-CoV-2. NAFLD’s prevalence increased from 36.2% to 69.9% in pair-matched participants studied prior to, versus during, the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic. Phenotypic alterations accompanying NAFLD’s rise included an increase in visceral adipose tissue and hyperresponsiveness in insulin secretion as noted during the oral glucose tolerance test. Similarly, clinically significant increases in magnetic resonance imaging-derived proton density fat fraction (PDFF) were noted in participants with NAFLD during, versus before, the pandemic. These metabolic alterations were likely exacerbated by environmental and behavioural changes owing to COVID-19 restrictions and remain to be validated in larger cohorts.
