Association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and coronary artery calcification in postmenopausal women.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition found in people who do not consume alcohol but shares similar histological features with alcohol-induced liver injury, ranging from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, which can progress to advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis.1 Previous studies have reported that the prevalence of NAFLD is higher in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women2 and that postmenopause is a risk factor for NAFLD.2,3 NAFLD is closely related to several metabolic disorders4-6 and is also associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including coronary artery disease.7 Recently, several studies have shown that NAFLD is associated with increased incidence of cardiovascular events.8-10 CVD is a leading cause of death in postmenopausal women.11 Coronary artery calcification (CAC), as determined by multidetector computed tomography (CT), is a sensitive measure for detecting the existence of early coronary atherosclerosis. Moreover, CAC may have prognostic value for predicting future cardiovascular events.12-14 Although several studies have investigated the relationship between NAFLD and CAC, results have been inconsistent.15-17 In addition, no study has investigated the relationship between CAC and severity of NAFLD in postmenopausal women. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between NAFLD and prevalence of CAC in postmenopausal women.