Association of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease With Risk of HF and AF

Ryusei Ohno; Hidehiro Kaneko; Yuta Suzuki; Akira Okada; Satoshi Matsuoka; Kensuke Ueno; Katsuhito Fujiu; Nobuaki Michihata; Taisuke Jo; Norifumi Takeda; Hiroyuki Morita; Koichi Node; Hideo Yasunaga; Issei Komuro

doi:10.1016/j.jacasi.2023.08.003

Association of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease With Risk of HF and AF

JACC Asia. 2023 Oct 10;3(6):908-921. doi: 10.1016/j.jacasi.2023.08.003. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Ryusei Ohno¹, Hidehiro Kaneko^{1

2}, Yuta Suzuki^{1

3}, Akira Okada⁴, Satoshi Matsuoka¹, Kensuke Ueno¹, Katsuhito Fujiu^{1

2}, Nobuaki Michihata⁵, Taisuke Jo⁵, Norifumi Takeda¹, Hiroyuki Morita¹, Koichi Node⁶, Hideo Yasunaga⁷, Issei Komuro^{1

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Advanced Cardiology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Center for Outcomes Research and Economic Evaluation for Health, National Institute of Public Health, Saitama, Japan.
⁴ Department of Prevention of Diabetes and Lifestyle-Related Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Department of Health Services Research, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
⁷ Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Economics, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ International University of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a novel concept of hepatic disease. Although the prevalences of heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are increasing worldwide, limited data have assessed the extent to which MAFLD is associated with incident HF and AF.

Objectives: The authors sought to examine the association of MAFLD with incident HF and AF.

Methods: Analyses were conducted using a nationwide epidemiologic database including 3,279,918 individuals (median age 45 years; 57.6% men). Metabolic dysfunction was defined as 1 or more of the following: overweight (body mass index ≥23 kg/m²), metabolic syndrome, or diabetes mellitus. FLD was defined as fatty liver index of >30. MAFLD was defined as the coexistence of metabolic dysfunction and FLD. We categorized study participants into 4 groups: non-FLD/nonmetabolic dysfunction (n = 1,709,116), metabolic dysfunction (n = 584,483), FLD (n = 89,497), and MAFLD (n = 896,822). The primary outcomes were HF and AF.

Results: Over a mean follow-up period of 1,160 ± 905 days, 62,746 incident HF events and 15,408 incident AF events were recorded. Compared with the non-FLD/non-metabolic dysfunction group, HRs for HF and AF, respectively, were 1.20 (95% CI: 1.18-1.23) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.08-1.19) for metabolic dysfunction, 1.24 (95% CI: 1.19-1.30) and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04-1.23) for FLD, and 1.73 (95% CI: 1.69-1.76) and 1.51 (95% CI: 1.46-1.57) for MAFLD. MAFLD was also associated with a higher risk of developing myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, and stroke. A risk of developing cardiovascular events differed between MAFLD subtypes (Wald test P < 0.001).

Conclusions: MAFLD was associated with a greater risk of developing HF and AF, suggesting the clinical importance of this novel hepatic disease concept.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation; epidemiology; heart failure; metabolic dysfunction–associated fatty liver disease.