Body mass index and waist-to-height ratio effect on mortality in non-alcoholic fatty liver: revisiting the obesity paradox.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Emerging research indicates that individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) who carry excess weight have similar or even higher survival rates than their normal-weight counterparts. This puzzling "obesity paradox" may be attributed to underlying biases. To explore this phenomenon, we examined data extracted from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, which spanned from 1988-1994.

Methods

We specifically targeted participants diagnosed with NAFLD through ultrasound due to fatty liver presence and employed multivariate Cox regression to assess mortality risk associated with body mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).

Results

Over a median follow-up period of 20.3 [19.9-20.7] years, 1832 participan

SUBMITTER: Jiang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11658989 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature