Skeletal muscle mass indexes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Chinese elders

Background and Objectives: As an endocrine organ, the mass of skeletal muscle is closely related to human health. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between regional skeletal muscle and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Chinese elders. Methods and Study Design: A total of 1,328 participants (579 males and 749 females), aged 65 to 96 years were recruited between March to November 2020 in Qingdao, China. Of these, 400 cases and 400 healthy controls, matched by gender and age (+/- 3 years), were included in the study. Skeletal muscle mass was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis, and body weight was adopted to standardize skeletal muscle mass to obtain skeletal muscle mass indexes. Results: Inverse associations were observed for trunk muscle mass index (TMI) (OR=0.42; 95% CI: 0.19, 0.93; p for trend=0.083) and leg skeletal muscle mass index (LMI) (OR=0.41; 95% CI: 0.18, 0.97; p for trend=0.012) with NAFLD risk after adjustment for age, body mass index, glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, dietary intakes of energy, carbohydrate, protein and fat, smoking, alcohol drinking, education and physical activity. Dose-response analysis indicated that per standard deviation increment of LMI was associated with 23% (95%CI: 0.63, 0.95) reduction of NAFLD risk. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that higher TMI and LMI are associated with a lower NAFLD risk.