Abstract 16251: Hepatic Fat Associates With Increased Arterial Inflammation: Novel Insights Linking Liver Adiposity to Cardiovascular Diseases

Introduction:Metabolic diseases, including diabetes mellitus, visceral adiposity, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are known to associate with cardiovascular disease (CVD). While diabetes and adiposity associate with arterial inflammation (ArtI) the relationship between NAFLD and ArtI remains undefined.Hypothesis:We hypothesize that: 1) NAFLD associates with increased arterial inflammation, and 2) among individuals without NAFLD, a graded relationship exists between liver fat content and arterial inflammation.Methods:Individuals (N=455, median age [IQR]; 55 [44-66], 43% male) without active malignancy or known CVD underwent clinical FDG PET/CT imaging. The presence of hepatic adiposity was measured using validated CT methods, as difference between Liver (L) and Spleen (S) Hounsfield Units (HU); NAFLD was defined as L-S< 1 (among individuals without alcoholism). ArtI was measured using validated FDG PET/CT methods. Associations between NAFLD, liver fat content and ArtI were evaluated using linear regression.Results:Individuals with NAFLD (n=73, 16%) had significantly higher AI (standardized ? [95%CI]: 0.385 [0.066, 0.704]; p=0.018; and ?: 0.48 [0.228, 0.732], p <0.001; after adjustment for CVD risk factors*: Fig 1A). Moreover, among individuals withoutNAFLD, liver adiposity associated with ArtI (?: 0.273 [0.077, 0.468], p=0.006 as a continuous variable; and ?: 0.123 [0.023, 0.224], p=0.016 in quartiles Fig 1B).Conclusions:NAFLD is associated with increased arterial inflammation, thereby providing a link between NAFLD and CVD. Further, among individuals without NAFLD, hepatic fat content remained significantly associated with arterial inflammation. Since atherosclerotic inflammation predisposes to CVD, these findings suggest that even sub-diagnostic measures of hepatic adiposity may potentiate atherosclerotic disease.