Sarcopenia Is Significantly Associated with Presence and Severity of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

BACKGROUND: The association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and sarcopenia has been suggested. We investigated the association between sarcopenia and NAFLD independent of visceral adiposity and searched for the clinical characteristics that affect this association. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study including of 5,989 subjects (mean age, 53.2 years; men, 57.3%) who underwent bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and abdominal ultrasonography in 2012. The appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was assessed by BIA method. Sarcopenia was defined as ASM/weight (ASM%) <2 standard deviation of the mean for healthy young reference population. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography. RESULTS: of interaction for effect modification, 0.007). CONCLUSION: Sarcopenia was significantly associated with the presence and the severity of ultrasonography-graded NAFLD in our study population independent of visceral fatness and other metabolic confounder. Younger age showed greater magnitude of association between sarcopenia and NAFLD.