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©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol. May 15, 2017; 8(2): 51-58
Published online May 15, 2017. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v8.i2.51
Published online May 15, 2017. doi: 10.4291/wjgp.v8.i2.51
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular risk
Rashmee Patil, Gagan K Sood, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Liver Center, Baylor Clinic, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Author contributions: Patil R and Sood GK were involved in designing and writing the manuscript; Patil R was responsible for a thorough literature search; Sood GK was involved in editing the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Patil R and Sood GK have no conflicts of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Gagan K Sood, MD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Liver Center, 6620 Main Street, Suite 1425, Baylor Clinic, Houston, TX 77030, United States. gksood@bcm.edu
Telephone: +1-832-3551400
Received: August 27, 2016
Peer-review started: August 31, 2016
First decision: December 13, 2016
Revised: December 30, 2016
Accepted: March 12, 2017
Article in press: March 13, 2017
Published online: May 15, 2017
Peer-review started: August 31, 2016
First decision: December 13, 2016
Revised: December 30, 2016
Accepted: March 12, 2017
Article in press: March 13, 2017
Published online: May 15, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is often associated with insulin resistance and is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. In addition to being at risk for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis and its complications, NAFLD patients are also at higher risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including coronary heart disease and stroke. NAFLD confers increased cardiovascular disease risk independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome. Close followup of patients with NAFLD may be indicated to prevent major vascular events. Risk stratification scores are needed that address both the risk for advanced liver disease and CVD.