CVD risk rises if people with metabolic fatty liver drink alcohol

Alcohol consumption may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in people with fatty liver disease, a new study has shown.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Monday that its research team has reached such a conclusion while developing a scientific basis for early prediction, diagnosis, and intervention of cardiovascular disease in people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

The institute recently reported that NAFLD is a leading cause of liver disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

However, identifying high-risk individuals more susceptible to cardiovascular disease than those associated with liver disease is critical to preventing and treating cardiovascular complications. Besides, metabolic syndrome is a common cause of fatty liver, and it is necessary to identify at-risk individuals earlier than metabolic syndrome to prevent cardiovascular complications.

To this end, the Multinational Association for the Study of the Liver has redefined “metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)” to include patients with liver steatosis and at least one of the five risk factors in the diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

A research team led by Professor Kim Won of the Department of Gastroenterology at Seoul National University Hospital analyzed the risk of cardiovascular disease using the new criteria.

To analyze the risk of cardiovascular events in people with metabolic fatty liver disease, the researchers used data from 350,000 adults (47-86 years old) who underwent the National Health Insurance Service’s National Health Examination Program and followed them for an average of nine years.

The researchers found that compared to those without fatty liver, those with metabolic fatty liver disease had a 19 percent increased risk of cardiovascular disease and that even moderate alcohol consumption increased the risk by 28 percent.

Alcohol consumption may further increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with fatty liver, making abstinence and moderation essential.

The findings were recently published in eClinicalMedicine, a top-ranked international medical journal (Impact Factor IF 15.1).

“This is a meaningful study that confirms for the first time the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with the newly defined and revised metabolic fatty liver disease,” NIH Director Park Hyun-young said. “It is essential for patients with metabolic fatty liver disease to improve and practice a healthy lifestyle, including abstinence from alcohol, to prevent cardiovascular disease.”

The NIH will continue to support national research and development projects to find ways to effectively prevent and manage the occurrence of cardiovascular disease complications in the early stages of metabolic fatty liver disease when it is possible to recover to normal, as there are currently no drugs licensed by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Park added.

KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said, “As circulatory system diseases cause 18.5 percent of all deaths in Korea, it is very important to promote preventive management policies to encourage people to practice preventive management methods in their daily lives and to recognize and treat diseases at an early stage.”

Jee went on to say, “We will actively strive to prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases by disseminating preventive management guidelines for cardiovascular diseases and operating research and surveillance projects to identify the prevalence, occurrence, and risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.”