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Relationship between glucose metabolism and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease severity in morbidly obese women

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Abstract

Background

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an independent predictor of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Insulin resistance and beta-cell dysfunction are involved in the pathogenesis of T2DM. Insulin resistance is associated with NAFLD but little is known about beta-cell dysfunction and NAFLD.

Aim

We tested whether NAFLD severity is associated with insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function in morbidly obese women.

Subjects and methods

We studied 61 Caucasian women aged 18–60 years without T2DM and with a body mass index ranging from 35.3 to 48.8 kg/m2. The insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and the disposition index (DI) from oral glucose tolerance testing were used as measures of insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function, respectively. Fat was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Fatty liver was diagnosed by ultrasonography and ordinally coded as 0 = none, 1 = light, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe. Proportional-odds logistic regression was used to evaluate the association of NAFLD severity with logeISI and logeDI with and without correction for total and truncal fat.

Results

The odds of more severe vs. less severe NAFLD decreased for increasing logeISI [odds ratio (OR) 0.40, 95 % CI 0.19–0.84, p < 0.05] and logeDI (OR 0.80, 95 % CI 0.69–0.92, p < 0.01). Neither total nor truncal fat had any effect on these associations.

Conclusion

In morbidly obese women, NAFLD severity is inversely associated with insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function. The association of NAFLD severity with beta-cell dysfunction is stronger than that with insulin resistance.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Progetti di Ricerca Corrente, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Verbania and Milan, Italy.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liver Research Center, AREA Science Park, Building Q, Strada Statale 14 km 163.5, Basovizza, 34012, Trieste, Italy

    Giorgio Bedogni & Claudio Tiribelli

  2. International Center for the Assessment of Nutritional Status (ICANS), University of Milano, Milan, Italy

    Giorgio Bedogni

  3. Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Pisa, Italy

    Amalia Gastaldelli

  4. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Experimental Laboratory for Auxo-Endocrinological Research, Milano, Italy

    Fiorenza Agosti, Alessandra De Col & Alessandro Sartorio

  5. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Division of Metabolic Diseases, Verbania, Italy

    Rezene Fessehatsion & Alessandro Sartorio

Authors
  1. Giorgio Bedogni
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  2. Amalia Gastaldelli
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  3. Claudio Tiribelli
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  4. Fiorenza Agosti
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  5. Alessandra De Col
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  6. Rezene Fessehatsion
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  7. Alessandro Sartorio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giorgio Bedogni.

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Bedogni, G., Gastaldelli, A., Tiribelli, C. et al. Relationship between glucose metabolism and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease severity in morbidly obese women. J Endocrinol Invest 37, 739–744 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-014-0101-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-014-0101-x

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