Effects of Statin Use on the Development and Progression of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Nationwide Nested Case-Control Study - PubMed (original) (raw)

Effects of Statin Use on the Development and Progression of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Nationwide Nested Case-Control Study

Jung Il Lee et al. Am J Gastroenterol. 2021.

Abstract

Introduction: The use of statins in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) may reduce cardiovascular morbidity, although their effect on NAFLD itself is not well known. We aimed to investigate the role of statins on the development of de novo NAFLD and progression of significant liver fibrosis.

Methods: This study included 11,593,409 subjects from the National Health Information Database of the Republic of Korea entered in 2010 and followed up until 2016. NAFLD was diagnosed by calculating fatty liver index (FLI), and significant liver fibrosis was evaluated using the BARD score. Controls were randomly selected at a ratio of 1:5 from individuals who were at risk of becoming the case subjects at the time of selection.

Results: Among 5,339,901 subjects that had a FLI < 30 and included in the non-NAFLD cohort, 164,856 subjects eventually had NAFLD developed. The use of statin was associated with a reduced risk of NAFLD development (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-0.67) and was independent of associated diabetes mellitus (DM) (with DM: AOR 0.44; 95% CI 0.41-0.46, without DM: AOR 0.71; 95% CI 0.69-0.72). From 712,262 subjects with a FLI > 60 and selected in the NAFLD cohort, 111,257 subjects showed a BARD score ≥ 2 and were defined as liver fibrosis cases. The use of statins reduced the risk of significant liver fibrosis (AOR 0.43; 95% CI 0.42-0.44), independent of DM (with DM: AOR 0.31; 95% CI 0.31-0.32, without DM: AOR 0.52; 95% CI 0.51-0.52).

Discussion: In this large population-based study, statin use decreased the risk of NAFLD occurrence and the risk of liver fibrosis once NAFLD developed.

Copyright © 2020 by The American College of Gastroenterology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Rinella ME. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review. JAMA 2015;313:2263–73.
    1. Vernon G, Baranova A, Younossi ZM. Systematic review: The epidemiology and natural history of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in adults. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2011;34:274–85.
    1. Chalasani N, Younossi Z, Lavine JE, et al. The diagnosis and management of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Practice guidance from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Hepatology 2018;67:328–57.
    1. Pose E, Trebicka J, Mookerjee RP, et al. Statins: Old drugs as new therapy for liver diseases? J Hepatol 2019;70:194–202.
    1. Cohen DE, Anania FA, Chalasani N, et al. An assessment of statin safety by hepatologists. Am J Cardiol 2006;97:77C–81C.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources