People with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease cirrhosis fare worse before and after liver transplant surgery if they are not overweight than if they are, according to new research presented at the 2021 Liver Meeting.
“NAFLD is one of the leading etiologies of liver disease among adults awaiting liver transplantation, and non-overweight individuals with NAFLD represent a subset of patients with a distinct risk factor profile characterized by increased visceral adipose tissue, underlying insulin resistance and genetic predisposition,” said lead study author Pedro Ochoa-Allemant, MD, a resident in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Conn. “Despite an apparent healthy status with lower body mass index, these patients have increased cardiometabolic risk factors, such as diabetes, that are associated with subsequent worse outcomes throughout the transplant process.”