NAFLD may reduce risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes
China: In postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus, complicated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with abnormal lipid metabolism, poor blood sugar control, weight gain, and increased uric acid levels, a recent study has stated.
The study, published in, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy, further found that the NAFLD group had higher total hip and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) than the non-NAFLD group. This indicates that NAFLD in postmenopausal women with T2DM may reduce osteoporosis risk.
In the study, Tian-Rong Pan, The Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People's Republic of China, and colleagues set out to determine the risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and the correlation with BMD in different areas of the body.
For this purpose, the researchers enrolled a total of 434 postmenopausal women with T2DM and categorized them on the basis of color Doppler ultrasound of the liver as 198 patients in the NAFLD group and 236 patients in the non-NAFLD group. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used for measuring the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip BMD.
The findings of the study were as follows:
- In postmenopausal women with T2DM, the prevalence of NAFLD was 45.6%.
- The body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), ), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), triacylglycerol (TG), uric acid (UA), and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) C-peptide (CP) were significantly higher in the NAFLD group than in the non-NFALD group, and the duration of diabetes and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were lower than in the non-NAFLD group.
- Logistic regression analysis revealed that BMI (odds ratio [OR] = 1.303), HbA1c (OR = 1.263), TG (OR = 1.263), and SUA (OR = 1.005) were correlated with NAFLD.
- The BMD of the total hip and femoral neck in the NAFLD group was higher than in the non-NAFLD group.
To conclude, complicated NAFLD in postmenopausal women with T2DM was associated with poor blood glucose control, weight gain, elevated UA levels, and abnormal lipid metabolism. Furthermore, the BMD of the total hip and femoral neck was higher in the NAFLD group than in the non-NAFLD group suggesting that NAFLD in postmenopausal women with T2DM may reduce osteoporosis risk.
"The precise association and mechanism require further exploration in different ethnic groups," the researchers wrote.
Reference:
Du YJ, Liu NN, Zhong X, Pan TR. Risk Factors for Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Postmenopausal Women with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and the Correlation with Bone Mineral Density at Different Locations. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2022;15:1925-1934. https://doi.org/10.2147/DMSO.S364804
