Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and increased risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac hospital readmissions in elderly patients admitted for acute heart failure

Abstract

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging risk factor for heart failure (HF). Although some progress has been made in improving survival among patients admitted for HF, the rates of hospital readmissions and the related costs continue to rise dramatically. We sought to examine whether NAFLD and its severity (diagnosed at hospital admission) was independently associated with a higher risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization in patients admitted for acute HF. We studied 212 elderly patients who were consecutively admitted with acute HF to the Hospital of Negrar (Verona) over a 1-year period. Diagnosis of NAFLD was based on ultrasonography, whereas the severity of advanced NAFLD fibrosis was based on the fibrosis (FIB)-4 score and other non-invasive fibrosis scores. Patients with acute myocardial infarction, severe valvular heart diseases, end-stage renal disease, cancer, known liver diseases or decompensated cirrhosis were excluded. Cox regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for the associations between NAFLD and the outcome(s) of interest. The cumulative rate of 1-year all-cause re-hospitalizations was 46.7% (n = 99, mainly due to cardiac causes). Patients with NAFLD (n = 109; 51.4%) had remarkably higher 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization rates compared with their counterparts without NAFLD. Both event rates were particularly increased in those with advanced NAFLD fibrosis. NAFLD was associated with a 5-fold increased risk of 1-year all-cause re-hospitalization (adjusted-hazard ratio 5.05, 95% confidence intervals 2.78–9.10, p<0.0001) after adjustment for established risk factors and potential confounders. Similar results were found for 1-year cardiac re-hospitalization (adjusted-hazard ratio 8.05, 95% confidence intervals 3.77–15.8, p<0.0001). In conclusion, NAFLD and its severity were strongly and independently associated with an increased risk of 1-year all-cause and cardiac re-hospitalization in elderly patients admitted with acute HF.

Prevalence and staging of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

“…Prior studies have noted an association between NAFLD and indices of impaired relaxation and increased left-sided chamber pressures on echocardiography 14,17,18,24 . This finding is important given that prior data that has shown that liver disease stage is strongly linked with outcomes among patients with heart failure 9,25 . More advanced liver fibrosis has been associated with volume overload, diastolic dysfunction, impaired exercise capacity, and higher mortality in patients with HFpEF 5,8,9 .…”

Epidemiological profile and obstetric outcomes of patients with peripartum congestive heart failure in Taiwan: a retrospective nationwide study

“…Those with severe liver disease might experience coagulation dysfunction, anemia, and increased cardiac effort [ 35 ]. Recently, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has been identified as an emerging risk factor for acute heart failure [ 36 ]. This might partially explain our finding about liver disease and PCHF.…”

Depressionen und Lebererkrankungen: Die Rolle von Mikrobiom und Inflammation

“…Lebererkrankungen sind zudem vermutlich über Entzündungsmediatoren wie Interleukin-6, pro-inflammatorische Zytokine und via Insulinresistenz mit einem erhöhten Anteil kardiovaskulärer Erkrankungen verbunden [17]. Die italienische Arbeitsgruppe um Giovanni Targher beobachtete bei älteren Patienten, die aufgrund kardiovaskulärer Ereignisse stationär behandelt werden mussten, dass mehr als jeder zweite eine NAFDL aufwies und gleichzeitig ein deutlich erhöhtes Risiko, innerhalb eines Jahres aufgrund kardiovaskulärer Ereignisse erneut in ein Krankenhaus aufgenommen werden zu müssen [25].…”