Association between the cardiometabolic index and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: insights from a general population

BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests that cardiometabolic index (CMI) is closely related to diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, which implies that CMI has the value as an indicator of metabolic diseases. However, data on the relationships between CMI and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) risks have not been reported. This study is designed to examine the association between CMI and NAFLD in the general population. METHODS: The current study included 14,251 subjects whose CMI was the product of triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio and waist-to-height ratio. Linear regression was used to analyze the correlation between baseline information and CMI, logistic regression was used to study the relationship between CMI and NAFLD, and subgroup analysis was used to explore potential high-risk groups. RESULTS: After adjusted for potential confounding factors, higher CMI was independently associated with NAFLD, in which every additional standard deviation (SD) of CMI increased the risk of NAFLD by 28% (OR 1.28 per SD increase, 95% CI 1.19–1.37, P for trend < 0.0001). There were also significant differences in CMI-related NAFLD risk among different ages and genders, in which the CMI-related NAFLD risk in young people was significantly higher than that in other age groups (OR = 2.63 per SD increase for young people, OR = 1.38 per SD increase for young and middle-aged people, OR = 1.18 per SD increase for middle-aged and elderly people; OR = 1.14 per SD increase for elderly people, P for interaction = 0.0010), and the CMI-related NAFLD risk in women was significantly higher than that in men (OR = 1.58 per SD increase for women, OR = 1.26 per SD increase for men, P for interaction = 0.0045). CONCLUSIONS: Current studies have found that after excluding potential confounding factors, higher CMI in the general population is independently associated with NAFLD risk. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12876-022-02099-y.