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Little-Known Liver Disease in Obese Kids May Raise Heart Disease Risk

UC  San Diego  Researchers Caution Physicians and Parents 

Overweight and obese children who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are at much higher risk for heart disease according to a study led by researchers at University  of  California , San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD), Department of Pediatrics.  The study results, posted online today, will be published in the July 2008 edition of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. 

“Our results demonstrate that obese children and adolescents with a definitive diagnosis of NAFLD have a more severe cardiovascular risk profile than their age, sex and BMI-matched peers,” said lead author Jeffrey Schwimmer, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the UCSD School of Medicine and Director, Fatty Liver Clinic, Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego.   

Researchers studied 150 overweight children between the ages of 5 and 17, with and without NAFLD.  The cases were well matched in age, sex and severity of obesity, with an equal number of boys and girls in each group.  Results showed that children with NAFLD had significant cardiovascular risk, including higher levels of fasting glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, LDL (“bad” cholesterol), triglycerides and higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than the control group.  The children with NAFLD also had significantly lower levels of HDL (“good” cholesterol) than the control group. 

Researchers found the distribution of the disease by race and ethnicity also varied significantly, with more Hispanic and Asian children in the fatty liver group and more white and black children in the control group.  In addition, children with metabolic syndrome were five times more likely to have NAFLD as overweight and obese children without metabolic syndrome.