Liver fat is increased in type 2 diabetic patients and underestimated by serum alanine aminotransferase compared with equally obese nondiabetic subjects
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether type 2 diabetic patients have more liver fat than age-, sex-, and BMI-matched nondiabetic subjects and whether liver enzymes (serum alanine aminotransferase [S-ALT] and serum aspartate aminotransferase) are similarly related to liver fat in type 2 diabetic patients and normal subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Seventy type 2 diabetic patients and 70 nondiabetic subjects matched for BMI, age, and sex were studied. Liver fat ((1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy), body composition (magnetic resonance imaging), and biochemical markers of insulin resistance were measured. RESULTS: The type 2 diabetic patients had, on average, 80% more liver fat and 16% more intra-abdominal fat than the nondiabetic subjects. The difference in liver fat between the two groups remained statistically significant when adjusted for intra-abdominal fat (P < 0.05). At any given BMI or waist circumference, the type 2 diabetic patients had more liver fat than the nondiabetic subjects. The difference in liver fat between the groups rose as a function of BMI and waist circumference. Fasting serum insulin (r = 0.55, P < 0.0001), fasting plasma glucose (r = 0.29, P = 0.0006), A1C (r = 0.34, P < 0.0001), fasting serum triglycerides (r = 0.36, P < 0.0001), and fasting serum HDL cholesterol (r = -0.31, P = 0.0002) correlated with liver fat similarly in both groups. The slopes of the relationships between S-ALT and liver fat were significantly different (P = 0.004). Liver fat content did not differ between the groups at low S-ALT concentrations (10-20 units/l) but was 70-200% higher in type 2 diabetic patients compared with control subjects at S-ALT concentrations of 50-200 units/l. CONCLUSIONS: Type 2 diabetic patients have 80% more liver fat than age-, weight-, and sex-matched nondiabetic subjects. S-ALT underestimates liver fat in type 2 diabetic patients.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Patients with type 2 diabetes have 80% more fat in their livers than age- and weight-matched nondiabetic subjects when determined cross-sectionally with 1H-MRS.
“When determined cross-sectionally with 1 H-MRS, patients with type 2 diabetes have 80% more fat in their livers than age-and weight-matched nondiabetic subjects.10”
From Increased liver fat, impaired insulin clearance, and hepatic and adipose tissue insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. (2008) · cites this paper as [10]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 29 · Cited by 196
- Authors
- Kotronen, A., Juurinen, L., Hakkarainen, A., Westerbacka, J., Cornér, A., Bergholm, R., & Yki-Järvinen, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (FI)
- Division of Diabetes, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- ORCID
- Hakkarainen, Antti
- Venue
- Diabetes Care
- Publisher
- American Diabetes Association
- Published
- 2008-01-01
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 165-169
- ISSN
- 0149-5992 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-5548
- OpenAlex
- W2128976060
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 9.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Diabetes Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Function and Risk Factors
- Keywords
- type 2 diabetes, hepatic steatosis, liver fat, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, liver enzymes, intra-abdominal fat, body composition, insulin resistance, obesity, 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- MeSH terms
- Abdomen, Adipose Tissue, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Alanine Transaminase, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Humans, Liver, Middle Aged, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Obesity, Reproducibility of Results, Biomarkers, Body Mass Index, Body Size
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
