Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Is Associated With Low Skeletal Muscle Mass in Overweight/Obese Youths

Background: Recent studies in adult non-elderly and elderly individuals have reported a link between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and sarcopenia. Nonetheless, whether this relationship would be found outside these populations it is still unknown. Hence, we evaluated the relationship between NAFLD and skeletal muscle mass in children and adolescents with overweight/obesity. Methods: Two-hundred and thirty-four overweight/obese youths were enrolled. NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasononography, after exclusion of infectious and metabolic disorders. Forty of the patients with NAFLD had also liver biopsy. Total and regional lean body mass and total fat mass measurements were obtained by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The relative muscle mass (RMM) was defined as the percent of muscle mass (kg) relative to the sum of muscle and fat (kg) mass. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) was calculated by the sum of muscle masses of the four limbs (kg), and expressed as percent of body weight. Results: Subjects were stratified according to tertiles of RMM. The prevalence of abdominal obesity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, NAFLD as well as biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) was significantly increased in the lowest tertile of RMM. After controlling for age, sex and Tanner stage, children in the lowest tertile of RMM had an increased risk for NAFLD (OR= 2.80, 95% CI=1.57–5.02) compared to those in the other two tertiles. This association persisted after additional adjustments for clinical and metabolic variables. Similarly, the risk of NAFLD in the lowest tertile of ASM/weight index was significantly higher compared to those in the other two tertiles after adjustment for the above confounders. Conclusions: This is the first study to establish an independent association between low muscle mass and NAFLD/NASH in overweight/obese youths. Considering the worldwide increase of pediatric obesity, measurements of muscle mass may serve as useful method of identifying among obese children those at high metabolic risk who may need intensive lifestyle interventions to prevent NAFLD and its progression.