BackgroundThe nomenclature from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is considered to identify more cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in general population, and patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) carry an excess risk for CVD.ObjectivesTo compare MAFLD with NAFLD in identifying CVD risk in RA patients.MethodsClinical data from a Chinese RA cohort were retrospectively analyzed. Hepatic steatosis was defined by abdominal ultrasound examination. CVD risk in RA patients was estimated by the Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China.ResultsAmong 513 included RA patients, 78.4% were female and the mean ± SD age was 51.8 ± 12.6 years. The prevalence of MAFLD and NAFLD was 21.4% and 20.5%, respectively. 10.9% RA patients concomitated with CVD events and 32.4% had a high 10-year CVD risk. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that both MAFLD and NAFLD were associated with an increase in CVD events (MAFLD: AOR = 2.303 [95% CI 1.197, 4.429]; NAFLD: AOR = 2.478 [95% CI 1.185, 4.779] and high 10-year CVD risk (MAFLD: AOR = 3.184 [95% CI 1.777, 5.705]; NAFLD: AOR = 2.870 [95% CI 1.597, 5.156]; all p < 0.05). The NRI and IDI was -0.011 (95% CI -0.025, 0.003) and -0.002 (95% CI -0.007, 0.002) for CVD events, and 0.012 (95% CI -0.014, 0.038) and 0.005 (95% CI -0.003, 0.013; all p > 0.05) for high 10-year CVD risk, which indicated no additional CVD events and high 10-years CVD risk were identified when replacing NAFLD with MAFLD in RA patients.ConclusionBoth MAFLD and NAFLD are associated with an increased CVD risk which implies the importance of early detection and management of MAFLD or NAFLD in RA patients. However, new nomenclature of MAFLD identify no additional CVD risk in RA patients.Financial support:National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81971527, 82171780 and 82101892), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (No. 202102010188 and 201904010088), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2019A1515011928 and 2020A1515110061).Figure 1.The prevalence of MAFLD and NAFLD in RA patients with different stratification.The prevalence in different genders (A) and ages groups (B); The prevalence in different disease activity groups (C) and disease duration (D); remission (CDAI ≤ 2.8); active (CDAI > 2.8).Disclosure of InterestsNone declared
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