Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Telomere length and telomerase has been linked with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the impact of telomere length on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and advanced fibrosis is in a large national population sample is not well understood.METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002 were utilized. Suspected NAFLD was diagnosed if serum alanine aminotransferase was > 30 IU/L for men and > 19 IU/L for women in the absence of other causes of chronic liver disease. Presence of advanced fibrosis was determined by the NAFLD fibrosis score, aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index, and FIB-4 score.RESULTS: Of the 6,738 participants (mean age 46.3 years, 48.4% male), suspected NAFLD prevalence was inversely associated with leukocyte telomere length in young adults aged 20-39 years, though this was not seen in the overall population. Percentage of participants with advanced fibrosis increased corresponding with leukocyte telomere length (longest to shortest). The shortest quartile of leukocyte telomere length was associated with a significantly higher odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of advanced fibrosis of 2.36 (1.32-4.24) in a univariate model compared to the longest quartile, and 2.01 (1.13-3.58) in a multivariate model adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, waist circumference, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P for trend < 0.05, respectively).CONCLUSIONS: In this large nationally-representative sample of American adults, leukocyte telomere shortening was associated with increased risk of advanced fibrosis in the setting of suspected NAFLD independent of other known risk factors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

View details for PubMedID 29797393