Demographic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics of 1318 subjects stratified by MHAO and NAFLD
| Variables | MHAO (n=173, 13.1%) | MUAO (n=1145, 86.9%) | P value | ||
| Non-NAFLD | NAFLD | Non-NAFLD | NAFLD | ||
| Demographics | |||||
| N (%) | 113 (8.6%) | 60 (4.5%) | 424 (32.2%) | 721 (54.7%) | |
| Sex | <0.001† | ||||
| Female (n, %) | 94 (83.2%) | 46 (76.7%) | 332 (78.3%) | 452 (62.7%) | |
| Male (n, %) | 19 (16.8%) | 14 (23.3%) | 92 (21.7%) | 269 (37.3%) | |
| Age (years) | 50.4±6.7 | 51.5±6.6 | 53.3±6.9 | 54.1±7.0 | <0.001† |
| Education categories, (n, %) | 0.024* | ||||
| Illiteracy | 19 (16.8%) | 12 (20.0%) | 144 (34.0%) | 196 (27.2%) | |
| Elementary school | 40 (35.4%) | 18 (30.0%) | 125 (29.5%) | 206 (28.6%) | |
| Middle school | 25 (22.1%) | 15 (25.0%) | 90 (21.2%) | 170 (23.6%) | |
| High school or above | 19 (16.8%) | 8 (13.3%) | 42 (9.9%) | 102 (14.1%) | |
| College | 10 (8.9%) | 7 (11.7%) | 23 (5.4%) | 47 (6.5%) | |
| Lifestyle | |||||
| Ever smoking (n, %) | 24 (21.2%) | 10 (16.7%) | 82 (19.3%) | 224 (31.1%) | <0.001† |
| Ever drinking (n, %) | 16 (14.2%) | 7 (11.7%) | 52 (12.3%) | 126 (17.5%) | 0.094 |
| Regular physical exercise (n, %) | 39 (34.5%) | 19 (31.7%) | 149 (35.1%) | 225 (31.2%) | 0.558 |
| Clinical characteristics | |||||
| BMI (kg/m2) | 26.2±2.1 | 27.4±3.4 | 26.3±2.5 | 28.3±3.1 | <0.001† |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 90.5±5.6 | 92.4±6.7 | 90.9±5.6 | 95.7±7.3 | <0.001† |
| Body fat rate (%) | 34.6±5.7 | 35.5±7.0 | 34.3±6.1 | 35.1±7.3 | 0.169 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 117.2±7.9 | 117.1±7.1 | 132.8±17.3 | 138.0±16.7 | <0.001† |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 70.7±6.8 | 71.5±5.7 | 78.6±10.4 | 82.2±10.4 | <0.001† |
| Triglyceride (mmol/L) | 0.96±0.34 | 1.15±0.30 | 1.53±1.08 | 2.26±1.38 | <0.001† |
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L) | 5.62±0.87 | 5.70±0.79 | 5.77±1.11 | 6.00±1.13 | <0.001† |
| HDL-cholesterol (mmol/L) | 1.60±0.27 | 1.55±0.31 | 1.43±0.31 | 1.29±0.26 | <0.001† |
| LDL-cholesterol (mmol/L) | 3.58±0.77 | 3.63±0.70 | 3.64±1.00 | 3.69±1.07 | 0.634 |
| Fasting plasma glucose (mmol/L) | 5.21±0.25 | 5.18±0.27 | 5.96±1.13 | 6.49±2.06 | <0.001† |
| 2-h PG (OGTT, mmol/L) | 6.55±1.28 | 7.29±1.42 | 8.15±3.13 | 10.09±4.53 | <0.001† |
| HbA1c (%) | 5.75±0.31 | 5.84±0.28 | 6.00±0.69 | 6.43±1.23 | <0.001† |
| Fasting insulin (mIU/L) | 8.7±3.5 | 10.7±5.3 | 10.6±5.9 | 14.6±7.4 | <0.001† |
| HOMA-IR (×10−6 mol×IU/L2) | 2.02±0.86 | 2.45±1.21 | 2.89±2.60 | 4.23±2.66 | <0.001† |
| IR (n, %) | 19 (16.8%) | 22 (36.7%) | 204 (48.1%) | 536 (74.3%) | <0.001† |
| Blood uric acid (μmol/L) | 310.7±84.8 | 343.8±76.4 | 337.3±84.1 | 385.3±94.6 | <0.001† |
| AST (U/L) | 22.0±5.4 | 23.5±6.4 | 24.2±7.7 | 24.0±9.4 | 0.683 |
| ALT (U/L) | 21.0±10.7 | 26.4±15.1 | 25.7±19.3 | 28.8±19.0 | 0.064 |
| GGT (U/L) | 29.3±26.4 | 27.9±14.3 | 29.2±22.6 | 42.3±29.2 | <0.001† |
| FLI | 31.6±15.6 | 42.1±19.7 | 40.4±19.1 | 64.1±19.9 | <0.001† |
| HSI | 35.3±3.4 | 37.7±4.9 | 35.9±3.5 | 39.6±4.7 | <0.001† |
| Diabetes (n, %) | 1 (0.9%) | 3 (5.0%) | 77 (18.2%) | 264 (36.6%) | <0.001† |
| Prediabetes (n, %) | 61 (54.0%) | 45 (75.0%) | 289 (68.2%) | 408 (56.6) | <0.001† |
| Prediabetes plus diabetes (n, %) | 62 (54.9%) | 48 (80.0%) | 366 (86.3%) | 672 (93.2%) | <0.001† |
All percentages are column percentage; except for percentages, all values are mean±SD.
*P<0.05.
†P<0.001.
ALT, alanine transaminase; AST, aspartate transaminase; BMI, body mass index; FLI, fatty liver index; GGT, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase; HbA1c, hemoglobin A1c; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; HOMA, homeostasis model assessment; 2-h PG, 2-hour plasma glucose; HSI, hepatic steatosis index; IR, insulin resistance; LDL, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol; MHAO, metabolically healthy abdominal obesity; MUAO, metabolically unhealthy abdominal obesity; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test.