Do patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease die from their heart?

摘要

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the leading cause of chronic liver disease in Western countries [1,2]. The prevalence of the disease is as high as 70 to 80% among persons who are obese or have diabetes. NAFLD exposes to the development of fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepa-tocellular carcinoma. The paper by Targher et al. focuses on the growing evidence supporting a strong association between NAFLD and the risk of cardiovascular disease [3]. It develops and supports the hypothesis that NAFLD may be involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. First, the authors show that NAFLD increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. Then, they present convincing data suggesting that patients with NAFLD die from their heart much more frequently than from their liver disease. Finally, they present evidence supporting the crucial role of necroinflammatory hepatic lesions in this process.