Objective:
To evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (nafld) in postmenopausal women.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was carried involving 188 women (age โฅ 45 years and amenorrhea โฅ 12 months) attending the outpatient unit in south-eastern brazil. exclusion criteria were liver disease (hepatitis b and c, cholestatic disease, liver insufficiency), use of drugs that affect liver metabolism; alcoholics; aids or cancer history; and morbid obesity. nafld was diagnosed by abdominal ultrasound. clinical, anthropometric (body mass index, waist circumference) and biochemical variables were measured.
Results:
Of the 188 women, 73 (38.8%) had nafld. blood pressure, waist circumference, body mass index, ldl cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose were significantly higher in nafld patients when compared with women without nafld (control group) (p < 0.05). homa-ir values indicated insulin resistance only in the nafld group (6.1 ยฑ 4.6 vs. 2.4 ยฑ 1.4 in control group, p < 0.05). metabolic syndrome was detected in 93.1% of the women affected by nafld, and 46.1% of the control group (p < 0.05). in multivariate analysis, adjusted for age and weight, the variables considered at risk for the development of nafld, were: high waist circumference (odds ratio (or) 1.07, 95% confidence interval (ci) 1.01-1.13), insulin resistance (or 3.81, 95% ci 2.01-7.13), and presence of metabolic syndrome (or 8.68, 95% ci 3.3-24.1).
Conclusion:
Nafld showed a high prevalence among postmenopausal women. the presence of metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity and ir were indicators of risk for the development of nafld.