Characteristics of the included studies and participants
| Authorship, published year | Participants (n, % of men) | Location | Age | Study design | Baseline CVD excluded | Quality score | Modalities for NAFLD diagnosis |
| Mantovani et al,22 2015 | T2DM: 64 (85.9%) T2DM+NAFLD: 158 (63.9%) | Italy | T2DM: 66.9±7 T2DM+NAFLD: 68.6±7 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 8 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Lee et al,23 2021 | T2DM: 48 (47.9%) T2DM+NAFLD: 83 (60.2%) | Korea | T2DM: 60.8±8.9 T2DM+NAFLD: 60.7±8.9 | Cross-sectional study (retrospective) | Yes | 9 | Liver transient elastography |
| Chang et al,24 2019 | T2DM: 30 (73.3%) T2DM+NAFLD: 67 (70.1%) | China | T2DM: 48.5±10 T2DM+NAFLD: 46.3±7.9 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 7 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Bonapace et al,25 2012 | T2DM: 18 (72.2%) T2DM+NAFLD: 32 (78.1%) | Canada | T2DM: 63.0±6 T2DM+NAFLD: 64.8±4 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 7 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Gu et al,26 2016 | T2DM: 49 (61.2%) T2DM+NAFLD: 60 (56.7%) | China | T2DM: 57.0±10 T2DM+NAFLD: 55.0±10 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 8 | Liver transient elastography |
| Wang et al,27 2018 | T2DM: 40 (52.5%) T2DM+NAFLD: 40 (52.5%) | China | T2DM: 60.8±8.1 T2DM+NAFLD: 64.4±7.9 | Cross-sectional study (retrospective) | Yes | 8 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Lee et al,28 2020 | T2DM: 251 (27.1%) T2DM+NAFLD: 40 (21.1%) | Korea | T2DM: 63.9±7.3 T2DM+NAFLD: 62.5±6.7 | Cross-sectional study (retrospective) | Yes | 9 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Yang et al,29 2019 | T2DM: 75 (85.3%) T2DM+NAFLD: 178 (64.0%) | China | T2DM: 66.5±8.2 T2DM+NAFLD: 67.8±9.3 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 8 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Wang et al,30 2020 | T2DM: 88 (NA) T2DM+NAFLD: 94 (NA) | China | T2DM: 54.9±6.9 T2DM+NAFLD: 54.6±6.3 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 7 | Liver ultrasonography |
| Saluja et al,31 2019 | T2DM: 13 (53.8%) T2DM+NAFLD: 57 (54.4%) | India | T2DM: 58.6±11.2 T2DM+NAFLD: 55.1±10.4 | Cross-sectional study (prospective) | Yes | 7 | Liver ultrasonography |
CVD, cardiovascular disease; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus.