NASH predicts plasma inflammatory biomarkers independently of visceral fat in men.

We assessed the differential contribution of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and visceral adiposity tonontraditional cardiovascular risk biomarkers in adult men. We enrolled 45 consecutive, overweight, male patients withbiopsy-proven NASH, 45 overweight male patients without ultrasound-diagnosed hepatic steatosis, and 45 healthymale volunteers. All participants were matched for age; NASH and overweight patients were also matched for BMIand visceral adiposity (as estimated by abdominal ultrasonography). Nontraditional cardiovascular risk biomarkerswere measured in all participants. Plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), fibrinogen,plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) activity, and adiponectin were markedly different among the groups; thelowest values (the highest for adiponectin) were in nonobese healthy subjects, intermediate in overweight nonsteatoticpatients, and the highest (the lowest for adiponectin) in those with biopsy-proven NASH. The marked differences inthese cardiovascular risk biomarkers that were observed between overweight and NASH patients were only slightlyweakened after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking, plasma triglycerides, and insulin resistance (IR) as assessed byhomeostasis model assessment (HOMA). In multivariate regression analysis, NASH and visceral adiposity predictedcardiovascular risk biomarkers independently of potential confounders. In conclusion, our results suggest that NASHcan predict a more atherogenic risk profile in a manner that is partly independent from the contribution of visceraladiposity in adult men.