Two-fifths of adolescents and young adults in the United States may have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), many with significant or advanced fibrosis, results of a nationwide surveillance study suggest.
In addition, among those who drink alcohol in excess, slightly more than half may have alcohol-associated fatty liver disease (ALD) that may lead to moderate to severe fibrosis in a substantial proportion, said Naim Alkhouri, MD, from Arizona Liver Health, Peoria, during a presentation of the findings at The Liver Meeting 2021: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), held online.
“Efforts should focus on increasing awareness of the burden of ALD and NAFLD in this population and [mitigating] modifiable risk factors to prevent disease development and disease progression to potentially advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis,” he said.
Liver stiffness measured
Unlike previous studies that relied on liver enzyme levels or ultrasonography to estimate the prevalence of fatty liver disease among adolescents and young adults in the United States, Dr. Alkhouri and colleagues used valid liver ultrasonographic elastography (FibroScan) measurements, recorded during 2017-2018, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database.
The sample included participants aged 15 to 39 years. Those with viral hepatitis, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels greater than 500 U/L, or pregnancy were excluded.
The investigators divided the participants into those with excessive alcohol consumption, defined using the NHANES Alcohol Use Questionnaire as having more than two drinks per day for males or more than one drink per day for females, and those with no excessive alcohol consumption.
The authors used controlled attenuation parameters to identify participants with suspected ALD or NAFLD.
They then used liver stiffness measurement cutoffs of greater than or equal to 7.5 kPa to identify moderate fibrosis and greater than or equal to 9.5 kPa to identify severe fibrosis in those with evidence of ALD and cutoffs of greater than or equal to 6.1 kPa and greater than or equal to 7.1 kPa, respectively, in those with suspected NAFLD.
The cutoffs were chosen to maximize sensitivity, as determined from published literature, Dr. Alkhouri said.
Uncovering a high prevalence of ALD and NAFLD
The final sample comprised 1,319 participants, including 100 with excessive alcohol use and 1,219 without.
The heavy drinkers were significantly more likely to be older, male, White, current smokers, have lower platelet counts, higher aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and ALT levels, and higher mean corpuscular volumes.
Among the excessive drinkers, 52% had ALD. Of this group, 87.7% had either no or mild fibrosis, and 12.3% had moderate to severe fibrosis.
Among patients with excessive alcohol consumption, significant predictors of ALD included male sex, higher body mass index, ALT greater than the upper limit of normal, and higher A1c percentage.
Among those who were moderate drinkers or abstemious, 40% had NAFLD. Of this subgroup, 68.9% had no or mild fibrosis, and 31.1% had moderate to severe fibrosis.
Predictors of NAFLD in this group included older age, male sex, higher body mass index, and elevated ALT, AST, albumin, platelet counts, and A1c.
Is drinking underreported?
In a question-and-answer session following the presentation, co-moderator Miriam B. Vos, MD, a pediatric hepatologist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, asked Dr. Alkhouri about his confidence in the accuracy of the measurements of alcohol consumption and whether there could be significant overlap between the ALD and NAFLD populations.
Dr. Alkhouri noted that he and his colleagues relied on items 121 and 130 of the NHANES Alcohol Use Questionnaire, which are self-reported by participants.
“Obviously, we’re not going to get honest answers all the time,” he said. “We’ve seen even in NASH [nonalcoholic steatohepatitis] clinical trials that when patients say they do not drink any alcohol, if you actually look for alcohol metabolites, up to 20% may have some evidence of alcohol consumption.
“I’m sure there’s a lot of overlap, but there’s no formal assessment,” he added.
Dr. Alkhouri noted that among the cohort with ALD, obesity and increased A1c were prevalent, “so it goes both ways. I think NAFLD can also contribute to progression of ALD, and that’s why we need to study another entity called ‘both alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.’”
Dr. Vos suggested that biomarkers may be useful for detecting alcohol use among patients with NAFLD and for further study of the progression of NAFLD to ALD.
No source of funding for the study has been disclosed. Dr. Alkhouri and Dr. Vos reported no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.