Fatty Liver Disease Ups Heart Risks for Obese Kids

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, July 1, 2008; 3:00 AM

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MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- More than 6 million children in the United States have a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which can boost their odds for heart disease, researchers report.

NAFLD results from oily droplets of triglycerides forming in liver cells. In some children, this can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure and the need for liver transplant. In others, NAFLD can help cause diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, all of which are linked to cardiovascular trouble.

"NAFLD is now the most common chronic liver disease in children," noted lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. "We believe that children with NAFLD are at greatest risk for heart disease and diabetes," he said.

The disease is now so common that between 9 percent and 10 percent of children in the United States have NAFLD, Schwimmer said. "About 80 percent of children with NAFLD are overweight," he said.

Approximately 5 percent of these children will develop severe advanced liver disease, Schwimmer said. The majority of children with this condition are at risk for developing cardiovascular risk factors leading to what's known as the metabolic syndrome, he added. Metabolic syndrome boosts heart risks and includes three of these symptoms: abdominal obesity, high blood triglyceride levels, lower levels of "good" HDL cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and elevated fasting blood glucose

The report is published in the July 8 issue of the journal Circulation.

In the study, Schwimmer's team looked at 150 overweight children diagnosed with NAFLD, comparing them with 150 overweight children without the condition. Children ranged from five to 17 years of age with an average age of 12.7 years.

The team found that children with NAFLD had higher levels of blood sugar, insulin, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), triglycerides and higher blood pressure compared with children without NAFLD.