Comment:
Recent research has identified fatty liver disease (FLD) as a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), with one in two FLD patients also possessing CVD. This may stem from FLD’s association with cardiac dysfunction and remodelling, with the latter representing the earliest response to cardiac injury/load and ultimately culminating in heart failure. The pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning this association, however, remain unknown.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the independent contribution of FLD to cardiac dysfunction and remodelling in participants from the UK Biobank.
Key learnings:
FLD was found to be the strongest independent predictor of increased heart rate and reduced left ventricular (LV) volumes. It was also found to effectively and positively predict cardiac remodelling (higher eccentricity ratio and lower remodelling index). Taken together, these findings support FLD’s contribution to cardiac dysfunction and remodelling. Future longitudinal studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underpinning this association.
