Visceral fat predominance is associated with non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease in Japanese women with metabolic syndrome

Aim Metabolic syndrome (MS) is likely to be associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The prevalence of NAFLD in visceral fat type MS (V-type MS) is known to be higher than in subcutaneous fat type MS (S-type MS) in men with MS, and a larger subcutaneous fat area is reported to be not associated with NAFLD in women. We elucidated differences between V-type S-type MS in Japanese women with MS. Methods The subjects were 276 women with MS who underwent a medical checkup including abdominal ultrasonography. We examined for the prevalence of fatty liver and investigated biochemical parameters, and we also made a distinction between V-type and S-type MS. Results Triglyceride, uric acid, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyltransferase, the frequency of fatty liver and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were significantly higher in V-type MS than in S-type MS. On logistic regression analysis with NAFLD (in our study, fatty liver with ALT ≥31 IU/L was defined as NAFLD) as a dependent variable, body mass index, dyslipidemia, AST and V-type MS were significant predictors of an increased prevalence of NAFLD (odds ratios [OR] = 18.85, 3.119, 59.77 and 3.205; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 3.585–99.15, 1.195–8.142, 18.03–198.2 and 1.198–8.573; P < 0.001, <0.05, <0.001 and <0.05, respectively). Conclusion Women with V-type MS are more likely to have fatty liver, IGT and liver dysfunction than those with S-type MS. V-type MS is one of the significant predictors for NAFLD in Japanese women with MS.